An interesting generational saga from Acevedo. I loved the different story lines and how the family all came together. The more mature scenes definitely make this an adult read in my book, but a very good one!

A rich tale of the many ways the women in a Dominican-American family love and help one another across generations.

The women in the Marte family are known to have unusual gifts. With Flor, it is her ability to predict the death of people in her dreams. She has had the ability since she was just a girl in the Dominican Republic, and she is not always sure that it is a gift as much as a curse. She moved to the US and with her husband Pedro raised their daughter Ona, an anthropologist who teaches at nearby City College specializing in the history of the land of her ancestors. When Flor announces that she wants to host a living wake for herself, it sends her sisters and extended family into a panic. Is this Flor’s way of announcing her own death? Or something else? She doesn’t explain what she is doing or why, she just starts assigning tasks to different members of her family….the niece who will do the catering, a sister who will do the flowers, and so on. As the story progresses, we meet Flor’s three sisters: Pastora, whose gift allows her to determine the honesty of anyone with whom she speaks; Matilde, who embodies the passion of dance when she hears music: and Camila, who knows just what ingredients to combine to provide a person with the perfect remedy for what troubles them, even before they realize they need it. Theirs is neither the first nor the last generation to have such gifts, it is a magic that flows from one set of women to another, though it is never the same for any of them. Ona is tasked by her mother to interview all of the relatives, to record their stories in their own words, for the upcoming wake, and this is how we come to know of the struggles, the triumphs, the love, the pain, and the courage of the Marte women. And perhaps that is all that Flor has wanted by hosting this party all along.
Ms Acevedo has her own gift, one that uses language in a rich and beautiful way. The characters come alive as they speak to and about one another, when they fight and tease, comfort and encourage. None has led an easy life, and there are secrets that have been held from one another. There are bonds between aunt and niece, between certain pairings of sisters but not others, and although there are or have been men in these women’s lives, they are not in the end what has sustained them. As chapters jump from being narrated by one character to another, the reader has to stay focused on just who is speaking at a given moment, and how what they have to say furthers the woven fabric of the family’s lives. From their childhoods in the countryside of the Dominican Republic, then with subsequent moves first to the capital city of Santo Domingo and finally New York City, the time and setting of each morsel of history shifts back and forth. Husbands that stray, loves that cannot be pursued, babies that can’t be conceived, all must be endured, while the American-born generation grapples with their own struggles between the traditions and values of the home country and those of the new. All the while, each wonders what exactly Flor wants to accomplish with this completely untraditional party, and what they will do if what they fear is at the root of it all indeed comes to pass. I have not read Ms Acevedo’s earlier, young adult works, but I suspect that fans of those works will equally enjoy this tale of love, magic, and the power of family. Readers who enjoy tales of family with a Latin American or Caribbean flavor (Julia Alvarez, Junot Diaz and Jamaica Kincaid come to mind) would be wise to pick up a copy of Family Lore. I thoroughly enjoyed the language, the glimpses of Dominican culture, and above all else the bonds of love between these extraordinary women. Many thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins/Ecco Press for allowing me access to an advanced reader’s copy of Family Lore.

Acevedo makes the reader fall in love with every character in this collection of lore. She offers "a nation of women who undulate to a musical all their own." And "they will wade through shit for you, because that is loving." The individual lore is a work that is done as an act of "searching for a truth of a people and place." The novel is a construction and claiming of magic, "as power as any second sight or inclination toward healing." Family Lore "puts Dominicans on the map." These pages bring "fire and smoke - the conduit to the divine."

“It amazes me how few questions I know to ask, or whom to ask them of, until it's already too late for the answers to be useful. How do lineages of women from colonized places, where emphasis is put on silent enduring, learn when and where to confide in their own family if forbearance is the only attitude elevated and modeled?)“

This book and its characters burrowed deep inside me. I fell in love with all sisters and their daughters. I already miss Yadi, Ona, Camilla, Matilde, Pastora, and Flor.

This novel speaks of strong women and inter generational trauma, of death and living. This book is about so much - assimilation, belonging, home, home, intimacy, etc. I could not put it down. Beautiful book.

This was a book I didn’t know I wanted until it ended up on my radar. A multigenerational story, infused with magic, rich in culture, with the build-up leading to that of a living wake, and, to boot, it’s Acevedo writing adult? You couldn’t sign me up fast enough.

And when I started, I honestly thought it would be a favourite. But alas it was not meant to be.

Unfortunately, despite the name of the character sitting at the top for each chapter to prelude the POV switch, I found it hard to keep track of some of these personalities. Mostly because only two really stood out. And most, though they had their differences of course, were just too much the same. Adding confusion, too, was the shift in timelines, the jumping around of flashbacks, the occasional interview transcript.. it made it hard to stay grounded in a story that, more and more, wasn’t gripping me as hard as I expected it to.

This likely isn’t meant to be a story that does big things. I think it’s supposed to be slow, to explore, and I appreciate that. But unfortunately I do think it was meant to be emotional or impactful but once the wake was over, well.. it was over. Things happen quickly and abruptly after that and then we’re done. But even beyond that, some of the time we spent with the characters, sometimes it didn’t feel worth it. Or I wondered why it was there. Or I just didn’t like them.

The good in here was good. But unfortunately, for me, it was rather overwhelmed by the rest. I think this was maybe took on more than it should’ve and the momentum, the pacing, any kind of build-up beyond the wake itself, just didn’t really exist. Or maybe it wasn’t there to begin with and I wanted something from this that it never was. Maybe both. But either way, here we are.

If you’re a fan of Acevedo, I’m sure you’re going to pick this up regardless of any naysaying early reviews. And I wouldn’t try to convince you not to. But if you’re expecting the same kind of magic we had from her YA novels, I would maaaaybe caution you to lower your expectations just a smidge. But I do hope fans of said novels also enjoy this. I’m just not one of them.

2.5 stars

10/10 story, 6/10 presentation. I grew up with a latino mother so a lot of the book hit very close to home, but the back and forth between characters was very hard to keep up with. I couldn't figure out who was whos aunt and sister even halfway through the book. but I loved the stories nonetheless.

DNF at 30 percent. Unfortunately the multiple povs in this book made it very hard for me to connect to the characters. I was constantly getting them confused. Looking at other early reviews, I can see I’m not the only one with this struggle.
The writing is very beautiful and I think for the right audience, this will be very successful. I love this author and have read everything by her so far so I plan on reading more by her in the future. This was just a miss for me.

Really enjoyed the writing of this author's first adult novel. The characters felt very real and fleshed out - but I think I wanted more to actually happen. The magical realism aspect was never going to be my favorite, but I also felt like it could have factored in more/differently.

DNF (for now). The writing is lovely, but while I usually love sweeping, multigenerational stories, I can’t keep track of the different characters and plot lines. I also don’t love the structure with Ona’s anthropological asides. I might give this one another shot in the future, but I can’t force myself to finish it now

This was just a lovely written book about a family. All of the characters were well developed. The writing was lyrical and poetic, and I very much enjoyed it.

Another incredible novel by Elizabeth Acevedo! In her debut adult novel, the Marte women confront their memories and each other as Flor, the second sister and seer of death, plans her own living wake. Flor's announcement leaves everyone shaken and begging to know whether she has seen her own death and when it will happen.

Through this generational tale, Acevedo captures the mystical beliefs and abilities that it seems every Caribbean and Latin family holds. I felt almost as if she was somehow related to me because her descriptions of the characters, their conversations, and gifts sounded so similar to what I grew up around. There's something about Acevedo's way of portraying these observations within our community that feels so tender and complex that I want to savor it.

Unsurprisingly, the Marte family is quite large which makes for a lot of characters to keep up with. Thankfully, we are blessed with a "table of principal persons" at the beginning of the book that describes each family member, their relation to one another, their gift or other identifier, and years of birth to death. Despite this large cast, the novel follows the stories of the Marte sisters (Matilde, Flor, Pastora, and Camila) and their daughters (Ona and Yadi). With the table, I found the stories easy to follow.

This is a quite a lot of sensuality on display in this book so if you're not comfortable with that, maybe this isn't for you. Regardless, I will be holding my copy close to my heart and recommending this book as much as possible.

Note: Bi/Pansexual Rep included!

Elizabeth Acevedo's YA books are some of my favorite books, especially ""With the Fire on High," which was a five star read for me. I was very excited when I learned Ms. Acevedo had penned an adult novel. Unfortunately, this book fell short of my expectations and I didn't enjoy it as much as her previous works.

First, the pros: the writing is absolutely gorgeous, almost poetic. I love the author's use of language. I loved how she wove in snippets of Spanish to make the Dominican characters more realistic. And I loved the magical realism.

The cons: there were way too many characters and it was difficult to keep them and their storylines straight. I felt that there were many loose ends that weren't tied up and questions left unanswered. I was often confused when the storyline of one character abruptly switched to another and the flashbacks and interview notes added to my confusion. And there was way too much sexual content for my taste, especially since I don't think it really added to the story. I mean, one character had what she called "an alpha vagina"-a magical vagina.

There are flashes of brilliance in the writing, but overall, this novel was a disappointment to me. I'm still a fan of Ms. Acevedo though and eagerly await her next novel. Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for providing me with an E-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I'm a huge fan of Elizabeth Acevedo's writing. I have read all of her books to date and loved every single one of them. I'm not sure what happened with this book. I could not connect with this book, and I feel like some parts were all over the place. I feel like there was too many POV's (6 to be exact) which made the book a little confusing. I did enjoy the cultural aspect of this book.

This book is written with absolutely beautiful prose and a touch of magic. I loved it. It delves into the lives and gifts of 4 sisters, their 2 daughters, and the family and friends that round out their community. Descriptions of life in the Dominican Republic are balanced by the current setting of New York City. The timeline goes back and forth from past to present. It definitely held my attention but I had a difficult time remembering who was who and their relationship to each other - the dual timeline confused me even more. But that’s probably just me and doesn’t take away from the visceral sense of the story and family. This is her first adult novel and it’s clear from the ages of the 4 sisters as well as the sexual content that it’s a mature book for adults. So please check content warnings if that’s a concern to you. Overall, this was an emotional and eye-opening read that I highly recommend.

I am a huge fan of Acevedo’s lyrical and beautiful prose, and Family Lore did not disappoint. Spanish phrases were sprinkled throughout the story, and though I don’t speak Spanish, I was glad that the words weren’t translated because they added a rich layer. Acevedo gave enough clues, and the readers were trusted to discern their meanings.

This was a multi-generational story about four sisters and their families. It was written from multiple points of view, during different time periods. At times, I was disoriented and confused about which sister had what gift and was the mother to which daughter. A family tree would have been helpful. Acevedo is a beautiful storyteller who created a fascinating cast of characters, and I would be interested in reading more about each one’s story.

I hope that Acevedo’s YA fans do not pick this up, because it explores sexuality in an explicit way, and was definitely written for adult readers.

My thanks to NetGalley for an Advanced Readers Copy of this book. All opinions are my own and not biased in any way.

This is [surprisingly] my first Acevedo, and I GET the hype. Her prose is STUNNING. The writing was probably my favorite part.

This is a multi-generational story about four grown sisters and their respective families and lives. I loved these characters. All were multi-dimensional, flawed, but redeemable.

I will say that the multi POVs and jumping of timelines from past to present was not always clear. I would occasionally get confused about where we were in time, and whose perspective we were reading from. There are a lot of spectacular characters but it was a lot of story lines. Honestly, this could be a *me* problem. I would have benefited from a visual family tree or something.

Overall, stunning work. Check the content warnings, but I highly suggest <3

This was a beautiful book about family, community, cloture and loss. I have read one Elizabeth Acevedo bok before so I was excited to read her first adult novel. I was a little sad this one wasn't written is verse like here YA books have been but it was cool to see her writing style on its one. I also liked how this book told the story of a family through out time from memories of the sisters. I also liked the little bit of magic sprinkled in the book as well. Definitely check this one out you guys it's a good one.

I’ve read all of Elizabeth Acevedo’s previous books and loved them. I love the lyrical, poetic language that she uses to create beautiful stories. While I was captivated with the language and story in Family Lore, I found that I had trouble keeping track of the characters. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Thank you to Elizabeth Acevedo, Ecco, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Acevedo's adult debut (and her first novel in prose, I believe) explores the women in a Dominican-American family, fluidly moving back and forth in time. Flor has the dubious gift of predicting death, so when she calls her family together to host a living wake for herself, her sisters, niece, and daughter are left wondering what she's not telling them. Acevedo's characters are so richly drawn they feel like they could step right off of the page. I struggled a bit with all the narrative shifts, both in the timeline and keeping the many characters straight, but ultimately I loved spending time with the Marte women and learning about their pasts and secrets. I've read every book Acevedo has written, and enjoyed them all, which is no small thing. Thank you to NetGalley and Ecco Publishing for a digital review copy.

Family Lore was an absolutely gorgeous foray into literature for adults from the one and only Elizabeth Acevedo. As someone who has read and loved her previous Young Adult work, I was thrilled to have enjoyed Family Lore just as much. Spanning three days while tracing deep familial lines, Acevedo portrays the complexity and beauty of family, life, and death.