Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo

14 reviews

gwenswoons's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• 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 struggled with this book a lot. I wanted and expected to love it since The Poet X was one of my favorite reads of last year and I thought Clap When You Land was really excellent too. I’m not a YA reader generally so I assumed Acevedo’s adult writing would be even more up my alley! But this took me over two weeks to finish because I just struggled to keep reaching for it and the pace felt so disjointed and slow and somehow just overall exhausting. I ended up finally having to switch formats — I love Acevedo’s voice and her reading in the two YA novels of hers was so memorable for me — and that made it possible for me to finish; I think otherwise it would have maybe taken weeks more and possibly ended as a DNF for me.

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.

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Content Warnings

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

hannah_rs's review

challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Violence

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Grief, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcoholism, Incest, and Miscarriage

Minor: Slavery

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

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

bedtimesandbooks's review

emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual content

kcbatts's review

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

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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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Infertility, and Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Porn Addiction

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

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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

jmeighan's review

challenging emotional funny informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Acevedo tells a powerful story about family and female relationships. The female characters are the focus in this story. They are powerful and conflicted; strong and struggling; supportive and fiercely loyal. Acevedo explores what is said and unsaid between family members and offers her characters opportunities to heal the wounds of the past.

I listened to the audio version of this novel which is primary narrated by the author. Acevedo brings a performance that adds another layer of emotion with her vocal storytelling. I highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance readers edition of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Violence