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javafenn's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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
This book was such an interesting dive into what family means with a touch of magic. Each woman has their own magical ability but nothing grandiose, just something simple that can make their lives easier, I’d say. It starts with an invitation to a wake for a living person and ends with a family close than before and more understanding of one another. Some parts of it were wildly uncomfortable to listen to without headphones but it’s a good book nonetheless.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Murder, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Blood, Grief, Sexual harassment, and Deportation
elliehoney's review
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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Infidelity
cadence99's review
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
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Ableism, Colonisation, and Classism
thecriticalreader's review
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:
You might like Family Lore if . . .
· You like multi-generational family sagas
· You enjoy or don’t mind some magical realism
· You appreciate when authors make untraditional storytelling choices in order to best uphold the experiences of their characters and community rather than to make the reader comfortable
· You don’t mind switching POVs and non-chronological narratives
You might not like Family Lore if . . .
· You cannot read Spanish and don’t like it when books have lots of untranslated Spanish words and phrases in them
· You dislike detailed descriptions of bodily functions and fluids
· You have a hard time following or dislike books that switch POVs between many characters, tell their stories out of order, and follow a long timeline
· You find it difficult to sympathize with or root for characters who are flawed and sometimes do bad things
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Excrement
Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment
Minor: Incest, Miscarriage, Slavery, Police brutality, Grief, Colonisation, and Classism
Graphic: Ophidiophobia, menstruationcassielaj's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
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? Yes
5.0
Family Lore is a work of art. It is lyrical, magical, quiet and exuberant, full of love and hope and fear and all sorts of challenging emotions woven into a truly beautiful story.
The four Marte sisters and their two daughters have such distinct stories and voices that each chapter feels like a story of its own, yet they are interconnected so beautifully to create a complex and wonderful narrative of mothers and daughters, sisters and aunts and nieces, and the ways women love and care for one another across distance, time, and other, more internal barriers. Their magic, both individual and collective, fills this story in more ways than one. I know I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time and going back to reference the many quotes I highlighted when I just need to read something incredible.
The four Marte sisters and their two daughters have such distinct stories and voices that each chapter feels like a story of its own, yet they are interconnected so beautifully to create a complex and wonderful narrative of mothers and daughters, sisters and aunts and nieces, and the ways women love and care for one another across distance, time, and other, more internal barriers. Their magic, both individual and collective, fills this story in more ways than one. I know I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time and going back to reference the many quotes I highlighted when I just need to read something incredible.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Sexual content, Grief, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, and Violence
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
bibliozord's review against another edition
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, and Death of parent
Minor: Infertility, Infidelity, and Blood
snipinfool's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Family Lore was the story of a Dominican-American family told through the eyes of the women of the family. Some of the women had unique abilities. Flor had the ability to be able to tell when someone would die. After viewing a show featuring a man having a living wake, she decided she wanted one as well. The rest of the book followed the days leading up to the wake and flashbacks of the women's lives. The family wanted to know if Flor was going to die, but she woud not say. Her sister, Pastora, had the ability to read whether someone was telling the truth by their words. Pastora decided not to ask her sister if she saw her own death because she didn't want the burden of knowing her sister might die. Others wonder if Flor saw another family member's death and the wake was a way to get the family together before it happened.
This was a great premise for a book. Unfortunately, I had a hard time keeping up with the characters in the book. There was a "Table of Principal Characters" in the front of the book, but each chapter bounced to a new character each time. Most of the book was told as flashbacks and the stories did not follow a linear progression to me. The writing style was difficult for me to follow at times as well. The characters in this book were very interesting. I wish their stories had been presented in a more concise way as I was disappointed I could not enjoy them more.
I received an e-ARC for Family Lore and want to thank Elizabeth Acevedo, Harper Collins Publishers, Ecco Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to voluntarily read and give an honest review of this book. Family Lore is scheduled to be released August 1, 2023.
This was a great premise for a book. Unfortunately, I had a hard time keeping up with the characters in the book. There was a "Table of Principal Characters" in the front of the book, but each chapter bounced to a new character each time. Most of the book was told as flashbacks and the stories did not follow a linear progression to me. The writing style was difficult for me to follow at times as well. The characters in this book were very interesting. I wish their stories had been presented in a more concise way as I was disappointed I could not enjoy them more.
I received an e-ARC for Family Lore and want to thank Elizabeth Acevedo, Harper Collins Publishers, Ecco Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to voluntarily read and give an honest review of this book. Family Lore is scheduled to be released August 1, 2023.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Sexual assault