Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo

6 reviews

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

2.0

Finished reading: August 6th 2024

"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... 

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Content Warnings

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

atamano's review

emotional hopeful 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Infertility, Forced institutionalization, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

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?

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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

jeimy's review against another edition

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. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Infertility, and Sexism

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. 

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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

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

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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, menstruation