Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo

6 reviews

celery's review against another edition

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

happyblkhippie's review against another edition

This book had some good pros-y quotes but ultimately just wasn't for me. I'm not familiar with the author so this was my first introduction to their work. The book definitely tries to break the mold and go in a more experiential route in many ways which is good, but I found it disordered and confusing. 

It was difficult to distinguish who from who. I found myself not able to follow the story. There actually isn't a specific story at all. It really is a collection of individual stories that have some overlap based on time, location and familial bonds, but ultimately are separate stories. A character driven collection. 

It doesn't follow traditional labeling of chapters instead opts for the specific character as the chapter name. This is fine for reading the physical book as you are turning a page to denote a new character or chapter, but when listening to the audiobook (which is my primary choice), it's very confusing because it's easy to miss when it's moved on to another chapter/characters story. 

The time jumping and pacing also threw me off too. I couldn't tell if we were in the present day or the past regarding the timeline leading up to the main plot point. I had to reread things to understand what was going on and who was being referred to often.

This is one that you have to be in a specific mood for and maybe for a specific audience that I don't fit into. Definitely literary with heavy topics and themes. I may revisit this at a different time and definitely read the physical book. 


TLDR: Good prose, slow pacing, character driven collection of stories with past and present timelines, literary with heavy topics, may be for a specific audience that likes more of a historical fiction. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Addiction, Classism, and Mental illness

kcbatts's review against another edition

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: Infidelity, Addiction, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol and Pregnancy

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

Moderate: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Death

Porn Addiction

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Addiction, Death of parent, Infertility, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Murder, Incest, Mental illness, and Sexual assault

cassimiranda's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.0

I received an eARC of this book for review from Ecco via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.
• The Brief: Family Lore is a warm contemporary family saga with expressive prose in Acevedo’s poetic style. It tells the story of a Dominican American family narrated by two generations women coping with their entwined histories while facing future heart break.
• This story will work well for readers who enjoyed the author’s lyrical writing in previous books and is interested in seeing it put to use in a more mature story.

     Family Lore is a story about the generational trauma told from the perspective six women, most of whom are blessed with magical skills. One of the elder sister’s is planning a wake for herself. Given her ability to predict death, her family struggles to prepare for the worst, resolve their past suffering, and discover their futures. 
     I loved Acevedo’s writing and sentence structure here, just as in previous novels. The characters were interesting and believable – although the POV voices were not as distinct as they could have been. The plot and world building was interesting to the point that for once I didn’t mind unexplained magical realism which can be very hit or miss for me. I wasn’t enamored of the way the sex and masturbation scenes were written, but that is a personal preference. This was a beautiful novel, and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Abandonment, and Addiction