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rei_reads's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual content, and Infertility
Moderate: Death of parent and Emotional abuse
Minor: Alcoholism
achay91's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Cursing, Infertility, Animal death, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, and Sexual content
Moderate: Infidelity, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault
Minor: Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, and Grief
javafenn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Deportation, Drug use, Sexual harassment, and Blood
happyblkhippie's review against another edition
It was difficult to distinguish who from who. I found myself not able to follow the story. There actually isn't a specific story at all. It really is a collection of individual stories that have some overlap based on time, location and familial bonds, but ultimately are separate stories. A character driven collection.
It doesn't follow traditional labeling of chapters instead opts for the specific character as the chapter name. This is fine for reading the physical book as you are turning a page to denote a new character or chapter, but when listening to the audiobook (which is my primary choice), it's very confusing because it's easy to miss when it's moved on to another chapter/characters story.
The time jumping and pacing also threw me off too. I couldn't tell if we were in the present day or the past regarding the timeline leading up to the main plot point. I had to reread things to understand what was going on and who was being referred to often.
This is one that you have to be in a specific mood for and maybe for a specific audience that I don't fit into. Definitely literary with heavy topics and themes. I may revisit this at a different time and definitely read the physical book.
TLDR: Good prose, slow pacing, character driven collection of stories with past and present timelines, literary with heavy topics, may be for a specific audience that likes more of a historical fiction.
Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Addiction, Classism, and Mental illness
greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Infidelity, Blood, Death, Infertility, Pregnancy, Racism, and Sexual content
mollitron's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Child abuse and Sexual content
bookishmillennial's review against another edition
- 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
Oh gosh, I'm nervous to write this because I absolutely ADORE Elizabeth Acevedo. LET ME BE PERFECTLY CLEAR: I AM A MASSIVE FAN OF ELIZABETH ACEVEDO! I have read everything she has published and I have been absolutely *ENAMORED* with her work. She is a master class in novel-in-verse, and in powerful writing in general. I truly believe that. However, this was just an example of me being the biggest fangirl ever, and yet not loving something by one of my favorite authors. Believe me, this is as devastating for me as it is for yall!
I was so excited by the premise, and when I realized what this book was about! I love a multigenerational family saga, and following the women in the family who have magical gifts?! FUCKING INCREDIBLE PREMISE! Flor hosts a living wake and doesn't say who it is for and when the person will die?! Iconic behavior. However, overall, the novel just did not work for me. See: *me wistfully ruminating on how sad I am that I didn't love this*
My problem with this novel is the same problem I had with books like Atlas Six by Olivie Blake - there were too many characters' POVs, and to *fully* invest in, leaving me a bit flustered and frustrated when I had to switch POVs to someone else, just as I was getting pulled in to one character's arc/motivations/desires/hopes. I understand this is not a decision that only Acevedo makes, and I've seen it in other books, especially in thrillers (which I also love to read!). However, I don't think it was executed well in this book, and I could have done without three POVs; I still could have learned about the rest of the characters through the main POVs' chapters! I didn't feel that many of them were able to be fully fleshed out because of this choice to split up the story's POVs so much.
I've seen criticisms that the book has too much Spanish in the book that is not translated to English but I didn't mind Googling anything if I felt I was missing context. That's not a factor in my review; I actually really enjoy seeing more languages in books, and it consoles me that more books are being written with the authors' community in mind, rather than for the white gaze.
However, that last sentence is where this novel fell short for me. With the resolutions for certain characters by the end of the book, I felt like this was written for a white audience. The Spanish may not have been, but the actual plotline and storyline really felt like it was catering to what big publishing houses think the "market" wants, and that was super disappointing. I don't want to spoil anything obviously, and my opinion is not gospel, but this is just the vibe I got.
Anyway, I will go re-listen to The Poet X for now, and this doesn't mean I will never read a book by Acevedo again. GET REAL! I will continue to read her work, and I'm sad that this one just didn't hit for me.
steam rating: steam was sort-of open-door but not written as explicit smut if that makes sense! So yes, there's sexual content in here but it's not particularly the smut you'd read in another romcom, so just keep that in mind.
cw: infertility, infidelity, miscarriages, death, grief, fraught family dynamics
Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Infertility, and Grief
Minor: Sexual content
bessadams's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Miscarriage, Sexual content, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Infertility, and Death of parent
gondorgirl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Death of parent, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Infertility, Colonisation, Grief, Misogyny, Sexual content, Alcohol, Infidelity, and Pregnancy
kylieqrada's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Infidelity, Infertility, and Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Death
Minor: Miscarriage