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gwenswoons's review against another edition
- 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
I was baffled and honestly a little upset to not love this because I think EA is such a remarkable writer and her characters and worlds are so vivid and real. I think that the constant switching of viewpoints here and the constant switching of timelines was part of it for me. Though these are devices I actually often love, here they made the characters feel so separated and their journeys so walled off, even though their stories are so intertwined. By the time the final chapters arrived and we were at the long-awaited living wake, actually seeing the characters interact in real time for me had much the most emotional and touching writing in the book, and seeing that made me acutely aware of what I had missed elsewhere in the novel.
I guess I will also say that I left a little puzzled — and was throughout — about the peculiar ways sexuality and very graphic writing about it played in each woman’s story and sense of identity. I am NOT averse to vivid writing about women’s sexuality, but somehow I felt like it was so emphasized and repeated in the emphasis that there was either an over-exerted point (about…women’s sexuality being normal? Or ???) or — at this rate I should probably say and/or — perhaps that there was a point about it that simply wasn’t quite effectively made by my reading. Either way there was a way in which the sex writing, like a lot of the POV devices and hyper-segmenting of the book in general, felt like it was being juxtaposed onto these many (compelling and basically quite memorable) characters; and that as such it took on a slight remove that was peculiarly not resonant with the people and the stories the book asked us to love and examine.
I don’t know — overall not like, awful by any means, but I was sad over and over again to not truly enjoy this one. I will definitely keep an eye out for more of Acevedo’s work and perhaps accept that with her I’m more a YA reader.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
yvo_about_books's review against another edition
2.0
"It’s silly to have a nickname for a nickname, but we’d always loved taking apart each other’s names and seeing how else we could arrange the letters into love."
I'm honestly still shocked this happened. I absolutely loved Elizabeth Acevedo's YA books, and I confess that I added Family Lore without even reading the blurb first. I hadn't realized it was her adult fiction debut, and I hadn't realized it was going to be a family saga with a magical realism vibe... Because I probably wouldn't be in such a hurry to read it otherwise. This type of family sagas doesn't usually work all that well for me, although there have been exceptions in the past... But sadly Family Lore wasn't one of them. I have to stress here that this is by no means a badly written book; it's simply a case of me not being a good fit for this story. Add the fact that my fickle reading mood has been acting up again, and this type of slower and more character-driven stories just don't work for me at the moment, and it's definitely a 'it's not you, it's me' problem. Family Lore is 100% a magical realism family saga a la Gabriel García Márquez, and if you enjoy this kind of stories you will most likely enjoy Family Lore as well. There is a huge cast of characters involved and a multiple POV structure to consider where we learn more about the lives of most of them. Make sure to brace yourself for a LOT of drama and issues! For me personally they overshadowed the truly interesting (and magical realism) part of the plot, but then again I'm never a fan of family drama in the first place. Like I said before, I simply wasn't a good match for Family Lore! That will teach me to read the blurb first even if I've loved the author's work in the past...
Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment
now_booking's review
- 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 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.
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
himpersonal'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: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Deportation
celery's review
- 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
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
moon_peach's review
- 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
4.0
Something to note is we aren't necessarily given a resolution to any of their trauma, however it (mostly) ends hopeful for most of them if not bittersweet.
Graphic: Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment
nabreu93's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Death of parent
brianarinaldo'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: Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and Colonisation
Minor: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
passionatereader78's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
Moderate: Infertility, Mental illness, and Sexual content
Minor: Confinement and Vomit
stephmcoakley's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, and Death of parent