Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Family Lore

This is not at all what I had expected. The writing was beautiful, as always with Acevedo, so I wasn't surprised by that. The topics and the way things are discussed so openly and intimately that it feels almost intrusive is what caught me off guard. I loved the way that the stories were all intertwined and how new bits and pieces of each character are revealed as the story progressed. There were some scenes and topics that made me stop and process the things that weren't being said. I am torn on how I feel about the end because it felt so sudden yet it also gave perfect closure. The full circle moment of new life at the same moment of death was perfect. I have still been thinking about this book even though I finished it a couple of days ago.

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deedireads's review against another edition

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emotional 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

4.25

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

Family Lore was right up my alley: beautiful, heartbreaking, and crackling with life. These characters are so well written, and Acevedo’s talent as a poet shines.

For you if: You like family sagas with many POVs, magical realism, and prose by poets.

FULL REVIEW:

If you can believe it, Family Lore was my first Elizabeth Acevedo. (I’ve always meant to read her books but they’ve just slipped through the cracks of my TBR every time!) And it’s no surprise that I liked it very much: a character-driven story about strong women and their relationships, magical realism, and prose by a poet? Sign me right up.

The book focuses on six women from the Dominican-American Marte family: Flor, Matilde, Pastora, and Camila (all sisters); plus Ona (Flor’s daughter) and Yadi (Pastora’s daughter). Nearly all of them have family “gifts,” and Flor’s is that she can see someone’s death ahead of time. So when she decides to throw herself a living wake but won’t say why, naturally everyone is concerned. At the same time, Matilde is reckoning with a lifelong bad marriage, Flor is struggling to conceive, and Yadi’s teenage love is suddenly back in town. The narrative bounces between them all, and between past and present, as we hurdle toward the wake.

This book isn’t going to be for everyone (especially if you have trouble keeping track of a lot of POV characters, are squeamish about bodily functions, or feel embarrassed by bold references to sex and sexuality), but there’s no denying Acevedo’s mastery here. It took me a bit to really get into the story — and I had to forgive some pretty glaring factual errors about my alma mater, Binghamton University (I’m 99% sure she originally wrote about Cornell but changed it at the last minute) lol — but once I did, I was all in. I found this book beautiful, heartbreaking, and crackling with life. These characters are so well written, and Acevedo’s talent as a poet means there are some really breathtaking sentences in here. Acevedo also reads the audiobook herself, which always leads to such a great listening experience.

I’m glad I read this one, and Acevedo’s backlist is more firmly on my TBR than ever.

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cadence99's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a fantastic first read for me from Elizabeth Acevedo. Her writing is deeply lyrical, and drew me in so easily to the narrative of this family’s story. Thought it’s not normally my favorite format, I REALLY loved the shifting points of view and flashes back and forth between timelines here. In written form, the flow felt so natural, weaving in remembrances of life as the book simultaneously works toward its conclusion. However, I’m really glad that I read a physical copy and not audio, because I think I would’ve had a much more difficult time following the narrative.

One think I didn’t LOVE here was that it felt VERY clear that the author was making their debut into adult fiction- there is no mistaking that there are adult themes at play, to an extent that they felt overused.

This book was an emotional, funny, and hopeful anthology of a family’s love. It left me feeling deeply connected to the characters and to their history

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mandi_lea's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

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thewoodlandbookshelf's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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thecriticalreader's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful slow-paced

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

3.75

Review:

I enjoyed my experience reading Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo; I found the characters and their family story to be interesting and the writing to be beautiful and powerful. Acevedo unapologetically uplifts the lives and experiences of her six main characters, portraying them as flawed but ultimately sympathetic people who live ordinary live despite their supernatural abilities.

Despite my overall positive reception of Family Lore, I imagine that it will not be everyone’s cup of tea. For one, it goes into descriptive detail of multiple bodily functions/fluids, which will undoubtedly turn many readers off. For another, it uses a lot of sentences, phrases, and words in Spanish, so people who cannot read Spanish may find themselves annoyed at frequently having to guess at the meaning or look up the phrases.

The book also uses a rather unconventional storytelling form; the different points-of-view are supposedly compiled by one character, Ona, an anthropology professor who wishes to capture her family’s lore in a book. However, it is easy to forget this, as many of the chapters feel like traditional third-person narratives told from the perspectives of the different women. On top of the switching of perspectives between six characters, the book tells the fifty or more years of family history in a non-chronological fashion. My guess is that the author does this to mimic the way family lore is passed down; that is, in piecemeal fashion from various viewpoints rather than as a singular, cohesive, narrative. The drawback to Acevedo’s approach is that it takes considerable focus on the reader’s part to keep track of a story with an already ambitious scope, which will probably frustrate some readers. While I was able to (more or less) follow the characters and the narrative, I think I did lose a bit of enjoyment and understanding from this format. I also found the anthropological aspect a little annoying, because it was never clear which parts of the story were truly from a person’s perspective and which were interpreted or fabricated by Ona to complete her book. I would have preferred a more traditional third-person narrative without Ona’s interjections, or a book that leans more heavily into the anthropological angle.

I enjoyed Family Lore and think it has a lot going for it in terms of the power of its narrative, characters, and writing. That being said, I think this book will not be for everyone due to some of the choices Acevedo makes for her storytelling.

The Run-Down:

cassimiranda's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

I received an eARC of this book for review from Ecco via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.
• The Brief: Family Lore is a warm contemporary family saga with expressive prose in Acevedo’s poetic style. It tells the story of a Dominican American family narrated by two generations women coping with their entwined histories while facing future heart break.
• This story will work well for readers who enjoyed the author’s lyrical writing in previous books and is interested in seeing it put to use in a more mature story.

Family Lore is a story about the generational trauma told from the perspective six women, most of whom are blessed with magical skills. One of the elder sister’s is planning a wake for herself. Given her ability to predict death, her family struggles to prepare for the worst, resolve their past suffering, and discover their futures.
I loved Acevedo’s writing and sentence structure here, just as in previous novels. The characters were interesting and believable – although the POV voices were not as distinct as they could have been. The plot and world building was interesting to the point that for once I didn’t mind unexplained magical realism which can be very hit or miss for me. I wasn’t enamored of the way the sex and masturbation scenes were written, but that is a personal preference. This was a beautiful novel, and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to read it.

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