In With the Fire on High Elizabeth Acevedo Serves Up A Delicious Sophomore Novel

Anticipation for the sophomore effort from Elizabeth Acevedo—whose 2018 debut novel-in-verse, The Poet X, earned her the National Book Award—has been sky high, and with good reason. Luckily, With the Fire On High more than lives up to its stunning cover.
In fact, Fire only amps up the heat on Acevedo’s already refined storytelling. Ever the poet, she manages to say so much in so few words, building a stellar coming of age narrative in short chapters of rhythmic prose. The narrative centers on high school senior Emoni Santiago, a Puerto Rican and black seventeen-year-old who’s got a full plate between finishing school, helping her abuela run their small household, and caring for her toddler daughter (born when Emoni was fourteen), whom she lovingly calls Babygirl. The odds are stacked against her as a teen mother with a mostly MIA father and a mom who died in childbirth. But this isn’t a sob story. It’s about challenging and believing in yourself, no matter what the odds might say. While her life has required a lot of sacrifices, Emoni rediscovers herself and her passions in the kitchen, the one place she can relax and let go. When it comes to food, Emoni quite literally has the magic touch.
Set to graduate soon, Emoni doesn’t know quite what the future will hold. But when an opportunity arises to take an elective cooking class, she jumps on it—and is particularly enticed by the class’s year-end trip to Spain. At first, the class doesn’t go quite as expected, and Emoni butts heads with her teacher. But as she embraces its challenges, she starts to step her game in other aspects of her life. She treads lightly into the idea of new love with new kid Malachi, and is carried by an extended family that includes her amazing ‘Buela and her best friend, Angelica (who’s a lesbian and out), a true champion and support system we would’ve loved to see more of in the novel’s second half.
While Fire is written in prose, there’s a rhythm and cadence to the writing akin to the poetry of The Poet X, threaded with magical realism in the realm of food. Acevedo—a spoken word poet herself—sure knows her way around a turn of phrase. The chapters here are short, the pacing quick, and the language lush, with mouth-watering recipes scattered throughout.
While the book is a quick read, it does tackle some meaty topics, including teen parenthood, community and gentrification, and the differences (and overlap) between love and sex, contrasted through Emoni’s relationships with baby daddy Tyrone and new love Malachi. She also deftly tackles teen parenting and commitment. Can Emoni decide on investing in herself and culinary college, the way she dreams of? Or will the realities that come with parenting a small child make that a dream deferred? As one of her teachers points out, school isn’t the only way to learn something.
One topic Acevedo not so subtly explores (and quietly explodes) is the arena of race and colorism (with frequent explorations of micro—and macro—aggressions), specifically when it comes to Afro-Latinx identity. “It’s like I’m some long-division problem folks keep wanting to parcel into pieces, and they don’t hear me when I say: ‘I don’t reduce, homies. The whole of me is Black. The whole of me is whole.’”
Bottom line? With the Fire on High is a spring read to devour in a single sitting. But you might just find yourself craving a second helping.
With the Fire on High hits shelves May 7, and is available for pre-order now.