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cadence99's review against another edition
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
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
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
mandi_lea's review against another edition
reflective
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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol
enlamont's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
Moderate: Incest, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Murder
kari_f's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Elizabeth Acevedo is an author whose works I’ll automatically buy, without needing a synopsis or summary. Whether it’s poetry or prose, she has a way of infusing vibrant beauty and overflowing emotion into her writing. This, her adult debut, is a multi-generational tale that infuses a bit of magic, a lot of culture, and plenty of family drama.
I will say that if you’re going into this book expecting it to be similar to her previous works, your experience won’t be what you anticipate. While many of the themes common to Acevedo’s works can be found here as well, this book is much more adult in nature, and it comes with many issues that you wouldn’t see in a YA novel.
The story is also told through a nonlinear format, through the eyes of the six Marte women. Each character has a strong enough voice that I rarely had to check back to the chapter heading to see whose head we were in at the moment. I absolutely love that the reader has each woman’s perspective through the novel, especially when it comes to how they viewed each other. While I wish we’d had a bit more closure on some of the characters, I understand that this was merely a snapshot of their layered and nuanced lives. I like knowing that each of the women had more than what was presented in this particular story, and that for most of them, this three-day-time period was the start of something new and life changing.
The pacing is slow, giving us time to really dive deep and get to know each character in relation to the others. I adore character-driven stories, where we get to know each one well enough to connect and understand their motivations. The women in this book are flawed in what feels like a realistic way, and apart from the “gifts” many of them possess, they seem like women we might know and love in our own lives.
Thank you so much to Elizabeth Acevedo, Ecco, and Netgalley for this advanced copy!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Torture, and Death of parent
thecriticalreader's review against another edition
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, menstruationchristinesreads's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
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
Content Warnings
Minor: Death and Death of parent
ktdakotareads's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism
micalyia's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
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? It's complicated
4.75
Elizabeth has done it again! She has pulled me in and broke my heart. I am heartbroken.
Onya gathers the stories of the women in her family so thoughtfully. I felt every striking word and cried when these women hurt.
The story follows the lives of 4 sisters and their 2 daughters. We see them grow up and come into their magic and the implications of it. But we also see their relationships (whether beautifully fulfilling or dysfunctional) and their hopes and dreams actualized.
I cannot wait for y’all to read this book.
Onya gathers the stories of the women in her family so thoughtfully. I felt every striking word and cried when these women hurt.
The story follows the lives of 4 sisters and their 2 daughters. We see them grow up and come into their magic and the implications of it. But we also see their relationships (whether beautifully fulfilling or dysfunctional) and their hopes and dreams actualized.
I cannot wait for y’all to read this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
bibliozord'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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, and Death of parent
Minor: Infertility, Infidelity, and Blood
jazzyjbox's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Absolutely beautiful story about family, generations, and life. I loved Acevedo's YA books, and this adult novel shows how limiltless Acevedo can be!
Ona and her mother and aunts are amazingly strong women, each with their own trials and needs, but they are all there for each other when it counts. Acevedo shows how imperfect and beautiful family can be.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review!
Ona and her mother and aunts are amazingly strong women, each with their own trials and needs, but they are all there for each other when it counts. Acevedo shows how imperfect and beautiful family can be.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content and Pregnancy
Minor: Death, Miscarriage, and Death of parent