Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Family Lore

I would like it to be known that after the first 100 pages, I started only reading the first line of every other paragraph, and I still understood everything that happened in the story.

I’m pretty bummed, because the things that I did enjoy about this book, I really liked! But the things that I didn’t enjoy about the book ruined and tainted my experience with the book as a whole.

I wish more than ANYTHING that Acevedo would have focused on the four sisters. Or just a book written on Flor’s perspective, or just a book written on the three sister’s perspective of Flor in their life and leading to the wake. Every single time the narrative switched to Yadi or Ona, it took everything in me not to skip chapters entirely. They’re thirty year old women that speak like twelve year olds, extremely unrealistic and unnatural and just, super teenager-esque.

Oh goodness, Yadi and Ona’s chapters are so graphic! Granted, I am more conservative on my tolerance for sexual references in books, but this book? I’m sorry, it is so disgustingly graphic for absolutely no purpose. Gross, nasty, perverse graphic scenes that just gave me the ick. And pages and pages of it. If this book had been focused on only Yadi and Ona’s stories, I really wouldn’t have finished this book.

If anyone’s familiar, this book just had major Rupi Kaur vibes. Overexercised metaphors and details and exaggerations that make this book sound so out of touch. Granted, there were some good quotes in this book, but I think it’s one of those “even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then” moments. Choppy writing, chapters that just felt like they had no purpose. I’d find myself mid-paragraph saying “what is the point of this?” Really, the writing felt like the author wanted the book to feel so real and so relatable, but it was really just unnatural and hard to read.

Oh! And then the Spanish! I do not mind the interweaving of Spanish and English, I really feel like it adds character to the bilingual characters. But! To drop it in all the time, full sentences, and no context clues to understand what they’re saying. I’m confused if the author just wanted me to have Google translate up the entire time (because we all know how reliable of a translation that gives?) I’m really good at picking up context clues in books, but there were many times that a Spanish line was written out, and after a few minutes, I’d just keep reading and hope it wasn’t important, which seems like the opposite of what the author would hope to achieve by adding in Spanish elements?

Again, I wish we could have a version of this book that just focused on the narrative of the sisters, because even that would have done wonders for this story. Family Lore really felt like a child trying their absolute hardest to write a mature, adult book and prove that no one would know a child wrote it. Overused metaphors, simple words switched out for bigger more complex words JUST for the sake of it, a story structure so insanely hard to follow, and language so foul it would ONLY make a twelve year old giggle. If anyone mentioned to me that they were going to read this book, I would 100% steer them away.

Content Warnings

laura_lin's review against another edition

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emotional reflective fast-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is one of my favorites I’ve read this year. I loved the nuanced bonds between multiple generations and the shifting perspectives. I especially appreciated the cast of characters listed in the beginning as someone who loses track easily.
This author touched on a lot of sensitive topics in such a palatable relatable way. And I loved challenging myself to use context clues to translate the Spanish sprinkled throughout.

Content Warnings

passionatereader78's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I love Elizabeth Acevedo! I enjoyed the generations of women telling the story of their family and their experiences. The way Elizabeth tells a story is like the gentle ripples in a lake. Each new experience flows into the previous ones seamlessly. Flor is dying soon and she wants her flowers while she's alive, so she plans a living wake. We follow the family as they plan the wake. Each woman in the family gives us insight on the family. We learn from each person the family's history.

Content Warnings

stephmcoakley's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

akamm's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I stopped this book mid way through while life happened. For a while, I didn't feel a need to pick it back up, but when I did, I realized the magic of this story. This story is comfortable and warm. Even though some of the content is not easy, the storytelling is like a night with your family.

Each character really grew and I enjoyed how they loved each other.

Content Warnings

annamay1021's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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