Family Lore
Ratings32
Average rating3.6
Was a satisfying read. I wish it had closed captions as I feel I may have missed a lot due to not knowing the language the author kept using, but hey, that's why it's not 5 stars. And yes, fucking Columbus.
they say to Ona at some point – you should write about your mother, your mother's sisters, your grandmothers. you already have everything you need to write.
they were right, of course. and I'm so glad Elizabeth Acevedo was also told that at some point, and decided to write this beautiful, beautiful novel.
read for seasonal roulette readathon: spring 2024read for 24 hour readathon vlog
i appreciated this story so much and all the variety of women's issues that is told. i love elizabeth acevedo's writing but i didn't enjoy the non-linear, constantly switching perspective nature of this book.
It really pains me to say my absolute favourite YA writer's foray into adult fiction is a miss for me. Although I've previously loved, been thrilled moved by or enamoured with Elizabeth Acevedo's books, this has barely registered as a blip. I couldn't care less about the characters, the recurrent references to sex I found distasteful (don't get me wrong, not the references themselves, but the way they were done). I would say the only saving grace were the family relationships and the - unfortunately - rather infrequent mentions of food - which reminded me of With the fire on high, but they were too few and far between.
This book wasn't bad but it was also clearly not for me. I've read 3 other books by this author and loved all of them, this one was just okay for me.
There are multiple POVs and it was hard for me to keep track of what happened to whom, when and of what actually did matter. The writing is beautiful and compelling however I can't help but feel like it was lacking an actual plot. The whole thing about the woman wanting a baby bored me half to death (it will probably resonate with some people but personally I don't care for that type of story and I found it hard not to skim).
On the plus side I really liked the name Pastoria.
Family Lore is a story of two generations of an immigrant family. Most of the family members possess unique powers, ranging wildly from the ability to predict death to having an affinity for limes. Beyond their powers though, they all also face many challenges which is where their inner strength shines through, and what the book is mostly focused on.
Throughout the book we get to know this family via mostly flashbacks as they prepare for one of the sisters' living funeral. Since this event is planned by the sister that can tell when someone will die, it makes the family face the possibility of losing her, and their own mortality. They're also each at a precipice of their own, making them face where they are in life.
Family Lore is made up of things I love: it's written by Elizabeth Acevedo, it's a family saga and it's magical realism. While I am glad I read it, and there were a lot of parts in it I really liked, I also never fully connected with it.
There are a lot of different topics handled in the book, infidelity, immigration, sexuality, infertility, and familial and romantic relationships. Acevedo handles each of these topics beautifully.
While I mostly appreciated reading their stories, my reading experience wasn't entirely smooth. I felt like it dragged in so many points that it just made me want to stop reading it altogether. I think partially this was because it's very vignette-like. If the character development or the writing were better, perhaps those might have gripped me. Basically, while there were many moving moments, I was not usually moved by them.
Thanks to Libro.fm and the publisher for the audio arc!
Another hit from Acevedo! I loved getting to know these women, and her writing is brilliant. I did get a little lost in the sauce sometimes, because there are quite a few characters and their stories are not told in a linear fashion. Despite that, Acevedo is a wonderful narrator who added a lot to the experience. Would definitely recommend.