Reviews with content warning for Death - Family Lore

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo

57 reviews

victoriousbookworm's review

emotional inspiring reflective sad

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This is such a deep story of family, memory, and magic. Seeing the generations of this family, their interactions, culture, and history was so impactful.

Content Warnings

sarafrancesreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.0

🌟 REVIEW 🌟

#FamilyLore by Elizabeth Acevedo

⭐️ Rating: 4/5 ⭐️

Synopsis: The story of one Dominican American family told through the voices of its women as they await a gathering that will forever change their lives. Spanning the three days prior to the wake, Family Lore traces the lives of each of the Marte women, weaving together past and present, Santo Domingo and New York City. Told with Elizabeth Acevedo’s inimitable and incandescent voice, this is an indelible portrait of sisters and cousins, aunts and nieces—one family’s journey through their history, helping them better navigate all that is to come.

My thoughts: As always, I love stories of strong women. This story highlights a family of strong women and includes a sense of magical realism, with each of the women in the Marte family holding a special “gift”. It shifts between the viewpoints of each of these women, the implications of their gifts, and explores the bonds of family, and lessons learned as the family faces the meaning of life and death with a living wake for one of the sisters, a mother and aunt. Although many reviewers dislike the multiple viewpoints, I liked the short chapters and intermixed perspectives. I will say that some of the story lines did feel a bit drawn out, and didn’t really have a clear resolution by the end of the book. Overall, I feel like this book pulled at my heartstrings, and did a good job of making me reflect on the importance of family and what it means to be living.

Content Warnings

readingpicnic's review

Go to review page

5.0

Wow, this book is incredible! I haven’t been so caught up in a fiction book in so long. I loved how complicated all the characters were, how distinct their voices were, the little powers they had, everything! The alpha vagina power? Incredible. I love the humor in this book so much. The food descriptions were excellent as always, as Elizabeth Acevedo clearly writes with so much passion and love for food and how it's made and enjoyed as a community. All of the different generations of women with points of view in this story did such a good job showing generational trauma within this family and cycles of abuse, as well as just how complicated familial relationships are in general. I love everything Elizabeth Acevedo has written, but this is a new favorite.

Content Warnings

bedtimesandbooks's review

Go to review page

emotional 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

3.5

Content Warnings

brianarinaldo's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

Content Warnings

jeimy's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

This is truly one of the best books I’ve ever read. I felt so affirmed as a Dominican-American, so seen. The prose is so beautiful and descriptive. I think anyone interested in immigrant, family dynamics and learning the power of women and sisters would enjoy it. At the end of the book, I felt as though I knew the characters, as though they were my own family. I will definitely be re-reading this via audiobook.

My one piece of feedback is that

I thought it could have had a slightly stronger ending. Maybe the impact flew over my head but the last sentence could have been more powerful.

For that I would give it a 4.90 stars in my personal records, haha.

Content Warnings

rrubin97's review

Go to review page

reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

Story of a multi generation Dominican immigrant family with mystical elements. One who can see death throes herself a wake and the story of how those around her react and her back story. Interesting but super slow start and hard to get into

Content Warnings