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A review by happyblkhippie
Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo
Did not finish book. Stopped at 24%.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Addiction, Classism, and Mental illness