A review by conspystery
Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo

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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