I picked this up after having read Elizabeth Acevedo's first book 'The Poet X' which I did not love, but I thought it was decent for being YA which is not a genre I read often. So when I heard that this was Acevedo's newest book and it was geared towards an adult audience, I figured I'd give her another chance. A lot of what I liked about 'The Poet X' had to do with the insight into another culture and the way immigrants live their lives in America, and so I hoped that 'Family Lore' would have a lot more of that!

Also, I have to say that the comparisons to Gabriel Garcia Marquez (who I absolutely adore) definitely worked in it's favor as well and led me to picking up a book from an author that I may have passed on otherwise.

Now, that being said...I can understand why the comparisons to Marquez were made, as he is of course the father of magical realism, but magical realism is not a thing I find myself enjoying as a rule, it was more of an exception with Marquez, and 'Family Lore' was what I would normally categorize as magical realism, The thing about it tho that I found difficult to enjoy is that I felt that there were moments where it was written in such a way that made things unclear for me. I was not sure if I was supposed to take things at face value & accept that some fantastical things were happening, or if I was supposed to think of it as allegorical, or metaphorical. I didn't think it was always clear what the point of it was, and so at times felt unnecessary and superfluous.

The story is ultimately about 4 quirky sisters from the Dominican Republic, and is a family saga of sorts. Which I normally love family sagas, especially multigenerational, multicultural ones. Which this book was. But what makes these sisters different is that each sister has a "special gift." Like for example, one can tell if a person is lying, another can predict the date that a person will die, etc etc. We follow these sisters as they move from the DR and make new lives and relationships in New York City.

There was a good amount here to enjoy, per usual I really enjoyed reading about their sisterly bond. I have always wanted a sister and it is something I like to read about. I found it interesting reading about how these women build new lives while remaining loyal to one another and their culture. I thought Acevedo's writing was very much improved since 'The Poet X,' or maybe it's just the difference in target audience, but I thought her writing flowed and made for easy reading, but for me personally I just didn't especially connect with any of the sisters. I was engaged enough to finish the book and I never felt bored exactly, but I never felt thoroughly absorbed in the story either. Overall my reading experience was very much in the 3 star lane, I'm not upset that I read it but I will be thinking twice before I pick up another book by Acevedo, it just might be that she's not the author for me and I just don't vibe with her particular writing style.

Loved this book so much. It was so well written and thoughtful - and also thought provoking. It's so special. I'll certainly be recommending it to everyone I know. Thank you Ecco for the e-galley!

I was THRILLED to learn that Elizabeth Acevedo was writing an adult novel, but slightly worried that it wouldn't live up to my ludicrously high standards for her books (she is an auto-buy for me, which i can't say for anyone else who often writes novels-in-verse). But! This book is incredible, and the format of it is not like anything i have seen before.

The structure is this: Ona is an anthropologist and is interviewing everyone in her family. The chapters are written mostly in the voices of the various women in the family, with occasional break-ins by Ona, with anthropological or family story asides. It was a really fascinating way to set the book up and i loved it.

Other notes:
- All the women in the family have powers, from seeing truths even in strangers to incredible dance skills.
- One of the women knows when people are going to die--including herself. She decides to host a living wake, and this book leads up to and ends right after it.
- The relationships are as complex and deeply--if painfully--loving as you would expect in a family trying to be together

UGH JUST READ THIS BOOK WHEN IT COMES OUT!

NetGalley ARC

This was my first Acevedo book and unfortunately, I found this to be okay. I didn’t find the story as compelling as it should’ve been but I think Acevedo is a talented writer. I think this had to do more with me as a reader. I think she takes her craft seriously but at times, I’m not always sure this shines through and I felt a tad bit bored with this.

Family Lore is Elizabeth Acevedo's adult fiction debut. I have long been a fan of her YA novels in verse, so I was eager to read this ARC. I have hemmed and hawed about how to rate it, because I can name so many things Acevedo did brilliantly in this book and just as many aspects that did not work for me personally.

Family Lore has a character list a mile long and is told from numerous perspectives. The story centers on a family from the Dominican Republic who have immigrated to New York. The sisters of the older generation are in their sixties and seventies, Matilde, Pastora, and Flor. Flor decides to plan a living wake for herself, and immediately the family is anxious because Flor has an ability to see people's deaths before they happen.

Told in a combination of the present day and many, many flashbacks to the sisters' youth in the DR and in the US, parts of the book read like a connected short story collection. I found these flashback vignettes very powerful, but also hard to connect back to each individual character because the cast was so large and the stories had so many similarities.

Acevedo also includes the perspective of Yadi and Ona, two daughters of the matriarchal sisters. Yadi's ex-boyfriend has recently been released from prison and Ona is struggling to conceive with her husband. I found both of their perspectives very relatable and easier to follow than the sisters.

Overall, this book was denser and harder to follow than I thought necessary but the writing was beautiful. I wish it had the clean pacing of Acevedo's YA works. It felt so much longer and slower than I like, and I truly feel many readers will have trouble differentiating the cast of sisters like I did. So I will continue to read whatever she writes, and I hope that Acevedo's next adult release is even better.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ecco publishers for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Acevedo is a brilliant poet, and her lyrical style is apparent in her first novel. A story that weaves generations, told in small moments distilled to the most minute details, gives the reader a rich understanding of the hearts and minds of each woman. It is clear that Acevedo is giving us pieces of her family, her culture, and her heart. Many thanks to Ecco and NetGalley for my gifted copy.

Elizabeth Acevedo wrote a book for adults!
Her first adult novel focuses on the lives of one Dominican-American family and the voices of its women. Flor is throwing herself a living wake, and she's gathering her sisters (and nieces, among others) together to celebrate her life and share a secret with them. The nonlinear narration develops the characters and sheds light on their past.

I'm a fan of Isabel Allende and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and this novel reminded me of their stories. It has some elements like magical realism, as well as traditions, myths, culture, etc. I enjoyed getting to know each member of the Marte family, although I think I liked Flor and Matilde the most. I appreciated Matilde's passion for dancing and how she came alive when she was performing.

The one thing I didn't like about this book was it lacked some of the figurative language that makes Acevedo such an amazing writer. Her verse novels knock me out. It's truly where she excels. That said, I will read anything she writes!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo follows a Dominican-American family through the voices of members that span generations. The plot centers around the lead-up to a living wake that one of the members of the eldest living generation, Flor, decides to throw for herself. This may not be too out of the ordinary except that almost every one of the family members has a unique gift. Flor, has death premonitions about the people around her. Thus, upon the announcement of the living wake, the family becomes suspicious.

I really wanted to love Family Lore. I loved the idea of the plot, and more generally I love multi-generational novels, Latin American fiction, multi-POV as a literary device, Elizabeth Acevedo's writing style, and magical realism. However, I had a really hard time getting into and getting through this book. Previously I read Poet X and read through it pretty fast. And while there were moments in this book where the prose bordered on poetic or I was really swept up in a particular moment, I was largely uninvested in the story. I still think it is worth reading if you are a fan of Acevedo's YA work as it is her debut in adult lit.

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

Elizabeth Acevedo does not disapoint with her adult debut. Her lyricism of her verse YA novels translates into full-formed, savory prose in this spec fic story.

Family Lore - Book 40 of 2023
🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2
Effusive, Sprawling, Reverent
Family Lore tells the story of 4 sisters and 2 of their daughters. The book alternates between each of their points of view to tell the story of the Dominican-American family and their special gifts/mystical abilities. This was a slow read for me. It was very well-written and Elizabth Acevedo’s first book for adults. I’m still gathering my thoughts on this one. I’ll be excited for others to read so we can discuss. Thanks to @netgalley for the ARC.

First, thank you to @netgalley and @eccobooks for providing me this early release copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is Elizabeth Acevedo’s first foray into adult literature, and I absolutely loved it. I loved her YA novel-in-verse, Clap When You Land, so I was incredibly excited to receive this early review copy.

Acevedo’s writing is beautiful and nearly flawless. This story surrounds the Marte women, each of whom has a special ancestral gift. This book feels part magical realism, part literary fiction, and has incredibly family ties with cultural influences throughout.

I don’t want to give too much away, because I genuinely feel this book is best consumed without too much former knowledge. The sisters and daughters here hold such a special place in my heart, Flor particularly, and this is just one of those truly unforgettable novels.

Run out and preorder this now - it drops on August 1 and is perfect for fall cozy reading.

Family Lore is by one of my favorite award winning authors E. Acevedo, who also wrote "Clap When You Land" and "The Poet X". This representation of a Dominican-American family shows strong female voices, and powerful themes mixed with magical realism and contemporary fantasy. I look forward to more contemporary Dominican-American family stories, to promote this under-represented culture in literature. Acevedo will receive more critical and popular successes with Family Lore, Highly giving it five of five stars.

I wanted to love this book because I love the author, but it was a slog for me. I couldn’t keep the characters straight, which made it hard to fall in love with them or root them through their challenges. I also might be a prude, but the highly graphic sexual descriptions were cringeworthy.

I’m sure others who like a complicated family drama will love so I’m rating this three stars. Thank you for letting me see an early copy! I will read more from this author because she always tries new genres and storytelling techniques.

The story focuses on four unique and quirky sisters, Flor, Matilde, Pastora, and Camila. Flor has the unique ability to predict when a person will die since she was five years old. Now, instead of predicting her own death, she decides to have a "living wake" that she can attend. This raises the question of what would happen if she predicted her own death and wanted to say goodbye to her loved ones in her own peculiar way.
I really really loved this. I loved the different perspectives, I loved the relationships, I loved the way the story was told. I loved the non-linear and magical realism aspect of this book. I think it is so different from Acevedo's young adult works, and it truly demonstrates how talented she is. This will, without a doubt, be one of my favorite books of 2023.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I have loved all of Elizabeth Acevados’ books for young adults, so I was excited to read her first book for adults. Family Lore begins with one family member, who senses people’s deaths before they occur and decides to throw herself a wake while alive.

#netgalleyarc I love Elizabeth Acevedo’s works, I’ll read anything she writes. This is definitely a bit different than her other books, but also still her same great style. There are a lot of different points of views and characters that tell this story but it really made the story. Such a great read!

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.

I so enjoyed this book! Elizabeth Acevedo's Family Lore is a dynamic family portrait — detailing the meaning of sisterhood and the ways women show up for each other, the intricacies of family chosen and assigned, and straddling of two worlds. It is such a rich story, packed with history, memory and feeling. She nimbly shifts between Spanish and English and provides vivid scenes from both the Dominican Republic and the U.S. I particularly love the way she engages with the women's "otherwordly inclinations," ending with a resounding statement in the abstract: "all of us are magic wrapped in skin. And taut with over-wrought wonder, for the fleeting time we are beings, we would have to make her up: the woman we require to survive this world."

There are so many fantastic components to this book that make it great. First and foremost the exploration of multigenerational and multi-cultured narrative is done beautifully. It illustrates the complexity of family and immigration in a way I think a lot of people can understand and identify with, especially the female readers. Despite these things though, I had a bit of a tough time getting really into it and staying engaged. I would get sucked into a character and then the POV would change and I would struggle until that character came around again. I wish there had been more momentum in the story to keep me interested. I will recommend this to my audience though and will definitely give it another go once it hits the shelves.
Thank you!

I want to Thank NetGalley and Ecco for giving me the opportunity to read this incredible book early in exchange for my honest opinion.
This story is of a Dominican-American family told through the eyes of the women of the family, some of them have unique abilities. The story is told from the perspective of 4 sisters and 2 of their daughters. The story was a bit hard to follow at times but overall I would definitely recommend this and I am glad I got the chance to read this.