Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo

10 reviews

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Excrement, Infidelity, Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Deportation, Medical content, Rape, Body shaming, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Blood, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Grief, Infertility, and Pregnancy

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: Sexism, Misogyny, and Infidelity

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

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

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: Alcoholism, Death, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Ableism, Child death, Classism, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Violence, Grief, Medical content, Misogyny, Gore, Racism, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Drug use, Excrement, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Animal death, Incest, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Body shaming, Car accident, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, and Sexual assault

tahsintries's review

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity and Death of parent

Moderate: Misogyny, Alcoholism, Grief, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, and Blood

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, and Excrement

snackykennedy's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, Death, Infidelity, and Infertility

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Misogyny, and Sexual content

Minor: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

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: Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Deportation, Drug use, Sexual harassment, and Blood

paigeisinabook's review

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

First Impressions
I will come back when I have a better grasp on everything and my mind calms down. But, the scene at the end with the sisters holding each other, then dancing together? I am not the same reader I was when I started this book.

Now that I've Slept on It
I love generational stories. And this one didn't disappoint.

I didn't want this to end. I spent a month plus reading this book because it was so well done. The world of the Marte sisters and nieces felt like a real family. All leading up to a special event, this story is all about this family's connections, past, present, and future.

This is my second Acevedo read and I am glad that she can do multiple age ranges. However, I'm a little selfish and look forward to her next adult book. She really did it in this one.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Pregnancy and Blood

greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity, Blood, Death, Infertility, Pregnancy, Racism, and Sexual content

bookrokosmos'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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, and Death of parent

Minor: Blood, Infertility, and Infidelity

conspystery's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

Thanks so much to Netgalley, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Ecco for allowing me to honestly review this book in exchange for an ARC!

Family Lore is sprawlingly, interconnectedly vibrant. The characters’ relationships with one another draw them together as a family, but it isn’t that simple-- we get to see how they interweave with each other in every way possible, examining the full scale of their lives to dive into the complexity between them. The many vignettes of the characters’ childhoods and adolescents always felt fresh, like we as the audience were being offered new insight into why the present-day characters act as they do. The heavy topics addressed were done so with authenticity and grace; the magical realism, while at times a bit contrived, mostly added tension exactly where it needed to go to emphasize the heavier elements of the plot.

I found Flor to be the most compelling character, which makes sense-- she’s the animating issue for the plot. I liked her amount of provenance over the story. Her impending doom never felt overbearing, rather like an inevitable conclusion, and served as the perfect vector to contextualize all the vignettes; in the face of the upcoming death of a loved one, of course everyone would be inclined to reminisce. Every time Flor showed up in a section of the story that wasn’t hers, she served as both a familiar waystation and also a reminder of the tension building as the book went on. Ona’s project of recording all the stories feels like the natural progression of that idea, and I think it was executed really well. I also particularly enjoyed Yadi’s sections and Matilde’s sections. Pastora’s were great, too. I didn’t completely connect with Ona’s sections, but I felt that they held the narrative together in a reasonable manner.

I did struggle with a few parts of the book. I didn’t enjoy the graphic sexual content; I also felt that at times, the pacing dragged, but since this book is so character-driven, that kind of comes with the territory. Some of the dialogue, especially in the interviews, felt stilted, but that might’ve been a direct commentary on the fact that the interviews were translated-- the authenticity of the original language wouldn’t necessarily hold up in English, or with Ona translating? In that same vein, the density of content kind of dragged the pace down a bit, not always in a way that felt like richness; just a little more condensing could’ve made the pacing run a bit more smoothly, I think. Also, certain parts of the plot sprawl felt a little bit indistinct. Specifically, some of the struggles with lovers started to feel a tiny bit repetitive, but maybe that’s intentional, to see how differently the members of the main cast respond in those situations? 

Ultimately, I enjoyed Family Lore, despite those minor issues. It was poignant in the way that celebrations of life are, wistfully bittersweet. The writing was evocative and gave authentic voice to the struggles and heavy subject matter with which the book deals; the characters were multifaceted and genuine, and the plot’s calls for magical realism accented them with just the right amount of detail. I liked it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Animal death, and Sexual content