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celery'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
4.75
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
achay91's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Cursing, Infertility, Animal death, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, and Sexual content
Moderate: Infidelity, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault
Minor: Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, and Grief
javafenn'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: 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
gondorgirl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Death of parent, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Infertility, Colonisation, Grief, Misogyny, Sexual content, Alcohol, Infidelity, and Pregnancy
cadence99'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
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
Graphic: Sexual content, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Medical trauma, Violence, Alcohol, Grief, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Misogyny
Minor: Ableism, Classism, and Colonisation
gabbylikestoread's review against another edition
4.0
I’ve loved Elizabeth Acevedo’s work since I started reading again a few years ago. The Poet X is one of my all time favorite books! She has a phenomenal ability of creating characters that you feel like you know personally.
With Family Lore, she does the same thing but with a twist. It’s her first adult novel and hosts multiple points-of-view that spans decades. An epic, in every sense of the word.
I enjoyed learning about these sisters, Flor, Matilde, Pastora and Camila, as well as their daughters, Ona and Yadi. Each woman has a story that could’ve been a book of her own! It’s a wonder that she was able to convey from each POV without the story feeling drawn out or too long.
Since Ona is an anthropologist, we learn about her family history as well as the history of the Dominican Republic. The traditions that shaped the sisters and affected how they raised and nurtured the next generation. Speaking of, I loved seeing how the relationships between the women played out: mothers & daughters, aunts & nieces, sister & sister. For example, Flor & Pastora have a special relationship that began when they were young and continued throughout adulthood and the same can be said of Matilde and Camila. They are all sisters but they way they interacted with each other differed due to the circumstances of how they grew up.
The one thing that prevented this book from being a 5 star is definitely the sexual components. I listened to the book via audio, which is the BEST way to read Acevedo’s work because she narrates, and it was hard to avoid those parts in that format. I annotated as I went to flag where I should skip over those parts during a reread.
I did really enjoy this book! She took big risks and executed it very well.
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Violence and Cursing
thecriticalreader'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
3.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Excrement, Infidelity, and Sexual content
Moderate: Cursing, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Death of parent, Sexism, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Animal death
Minor: Incest, Slavery, Classism, Grief, Colonisation, Miscarriage, and Police brutality
Graphic: Ophidiophobia, menstruation