REVIEW First novel spins sharp, witty tale of rhyme with darker reasons

Debra Weinstein, herself a poet, gives this tale of academia the right tone.
By MARTA SALIJ
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
"Apprentice to the Flower Poet Z," by Debra Weinstein (Random House, $23.95)
Anyone who's ever taken a college creative-writing class will recognize this:
"After Braun read Meg's poem, there was silence. Lots of it.
"'So, let's talk about this poem,' Braun said.
"Penny Jones said that she admired Meg's ability to write longer lines, the expansiveness of Meg's vernacular. How she wished she could write a longer line!"
That last sentence had me spitting out my coffee while reading Debra Weinstein's sharp and funny "Apprentice to the Flower Poet Z." It's been nearly 20 years since I had to sit through student poets' fake-admiring one another, but Weinstein's dead aim brought it all back.
Weinstein is a poet, "Apprentice" is her first novel, and what I admire about it is how she makes a novel about a college junior and her manipulative professor interesting even if you haven't been a creative-writing student.
Under her thumb
Annabelle is a promising scholarship student at a New York City university -- I'm thinking NYU -- who gets assigned to the resident faculty star poet, Z., as part of her work-study grant. "Z. was beautiful in a New York City sort of way -- black hair, black clothes, silver accessories and a splash of red lipstick. She was a woman of a certain age," Annabelle says.
Z. made her reputation in her 20s with tidy poems about flowers. She's been writing about flowers ever since, to international acclaim. Annabelle worships her work, and then Z. starts to give her more and more assignments as her assistant.
Such as writing tidy poems about flowers.
If you're thinking "All About Eve" with literary grants, you're on the right track. Z. gives Annabelle an office in her glorious apartment, and pretty soon A. is beginning to get a good idea of the decline of Z. Oh, and there's a sullen daughter, a rival poet, a disaffected husband and a tweedy lover, too, to complicate Z.'s life.
Weinstein manages the awakening of naive Annabelle with a matter-of-fact style that makes the finale wry, not cloying. Annabelle is clear-eyed and tough, and I predict she's going to be OK after her term with Z.
And I predict Weinstein will be writing many more novels, along with her poetry. "Apprentice to the Flower Poet Z." is a wickedly good start.