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now_booking's review
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is an autobuy author for me. I’m not a huge fan of YA fiction but in Elizabeth Acevedo’s hands, I’m typically sold. So when I heard she had released her first adult novel, I rushed to get it. And I’m not disappointed.
This is a multigenerational or maybe inter generational family history of the Marte family over 3 generations…. Set around middle Marte sister and dreamer of death’s, Flor’s, sudden desire to have a living wake, this is a story of mothers and daughters, sisters and aunties and the complex and essential nature of those relationships across a life span.
I overall liked this- it’s very much in the mysticism / literary fiction lane, whether with Flor’s ability to predict deaths in her dreams, or Pastora’s ear for discerning the truth, or Camilla’s ability to heal with herbs, or Matilde’s gift of embodying music, or whether it’s having evil aunt’s possessed or a daughter (Ona) with her pride in her “alpha” genitalia, this recollection of the Marte women’s history and collective experience across generations reads almost as a memoir and provides proud insights into Dominican culture and heritage.
I’m typically not a fan of novels where the timelines jump about but here Ona, the main narrator, an anthropologist documenting her family history, manages to make this not so jarring and few seem less. The Martes feel real- perhaps because this is not a memoir of one person but rather of the women in the family, the stories stop and start naturally. These are not women with “and then…” stories that build to some unattainable finale. These are snippets of memory and anecdotes like we all have, like we’re familiar with from grandmothers, mothers and aunts. They’re pockets of stories that help you understand the characters and guess how they came to be in their current state, but they feel like memories and character development rather than full on plot. That’s not to say that this book has no plot, it’s clearly a story of how a family faces their mortality and their heritage at an inflection point of the potential impending death of a matriarch.
For me, this ultimately felt like a story about love- the difficulty and misunderstandings and errors in demonstrating love between mothers and daughters but also around romantic love and heartbreak and the hope of healing. I overall enjoyed this. I perhaps wish there had been a bit more story about characters I cared about like Yadi and Ant… or perhaps Ona and Jeremiah. Perhaps I wished for a bit more comfort of the pastoral bits of happiness. I think I understand what the author wanted to do with this book but at the same time felt that by spreading the storytelling net so wide and not getting very deep, the book did not resonate as much. The writing was of course solid, the scenarios super relatable or otherwise empathy-provoking. You can’t read this without feeling something. And yet, it didn’t feel complete or as whole… perhaps the characters felt a little shortchanged… but perhaps that’s also intentional by the author…you never know anything about anyone and perhaps by approaching this book in this way, we are left with the same gaps in knowledge and questions and curiousities that exist in our own family lore.
This is a multigenerational or maybe inter generational family history of the Marte family over 3 generations…. Set around middle Marte sister and dreamer of death’s, Flor’s, sudden desire to have a living wake, this is a story of mothers and daughters, sisters and aunties and the complex and essential nature of those relationships across a life span.
I overall liked this- it’s very much in the mysticism / literary fiction lane, whether with Flor’s ability to predict deaths in her dreams, or Pastora’s ear for discerning the truth, or Camilla’s ability to heal with herbs, or Matilde’s gift of embodying music, or whether it’s having evil aunt’s possessed or a daughter (Ona) with her pride in her “alpha” genitalia, this recollection of the Marte women’s history and collective experience across generations reads almost as a memoir and provides proud insights into Dominican culture and heritage.
I’m typically not a fan of novels where the timelines jump about but here Ona, the main narrator, an anthropologist documenting her family history, manages to make this not so jarring and few seem less. The Martes feel real- perhaps because this is not a memoir of one person but rather of the women in the family, the stories stop and start naturally. These are not women with “and then…” stories that build to some unattainable finale. These are snippets of memory and anecdotes like we all have, like we’re familiar with from grandmothers, mothers and aunts. They’re pockets of stories that help you understand the characters and guess how they came to be in their current state, but they feel like memories and character development rather than full on plot. That’s not to say that this book has no plot, it’s clearly a story of how a family faces their mortality and their heritage at an inflection point of the potential impending death of a matriarch.
For me, this ultimately felt like a story about love- the difficulty and misunderstandings and errors in demonstrating love between mothers and daughters but also around romantic love and heartbreak and the hope of healing. I overall enjoyed this. I perhaps wish there had been a bit more story about characters I cared about like Yadi and Ant… or perhaps Ona and Jeremiah. Perhaps I wished for a bit more comfort of the pastoral bits of happiness. I think I understand what the author wanted to do with this book but at the same time felt that by spreading the storytelling net so wide and not getting very deep, the book did not resonate as much. The writing was of course solid, the scenarios super relatable or otherwise empathy-provoking. You can’t read this without feeling something. And yet, it didn’t feel complete or as whole… perhaps the characters felt a little shortchanged… but perhaps that’s also intentional by the author…you never know anything about anyone and perhaps by approaching this book in this way, we are left with the same gaps in knowledge and questions and curiousities that exist in our own family lore.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Racism, Vomit, and Classism
celery's review
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
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
4.75
How many different words do you need to describe a vagina?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation
reading_rebellion's review against another edition
This book had some good pros-y quotes but ultimately just wasn't for me. I'm not familiar with the author so this was my first introduction to their work. The book definitely tries to break the mold and go in a more experiential route in many ways which is good, but I found it disordered and confusing.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Classism
kcbatts's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Infertility
Moderate: Addiction, Infidelity, and Violence
Minor: Pregnancy and Alcohol
booknerderika's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.75
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Infertility, and Sexual content
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Porn Addictionenlamont's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
Moderate: Incest, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Murder
cassimiranda's review against another edition
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.
• 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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Gaslighting, and Abandonment