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piprigsby's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
relaxing
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
i loved the characters in this book. also, the family dynamic was amazing, and i loved how this book centered on how the women in the family all interact and the care they have. one of the best parts was the realistic representations of families and siblings, and how some siblings still have the awkwardness of not always knowing how to reach out, since they did not always grow up together or did for only short periods of time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Grief, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Alcoholism, Incest, and Miscarriage
Minor: Slavery
fkshg8465's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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 full of pain, love, self-discovery, and sisterhood. All great ingredients for a good story. Rounding up to a four. I was satisfied with the ending, surprised by some of the middle, and enjoyed the novelty of the beginning.
Content Warnings
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
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, menstruation