DNF -- it was way too slow for me to get through. Acevedo is a great writer, but her style is just not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC.

Overall enjoyed the multigen story of mothers and daughters. I wish there was a family tree at the beginning of the book because it was hard to follow at times who was which character. This book was also sexy and the mystery of Flora and her living wake was great… but then it fell flat for me at the end. While I appreciate the closure and self discovery of the characters, the day of the wake wasn’t that eventful. It was also confusing with the excerpts because the reveal of the main character recording her family history took a while to come out.

I was so excited to see that Elizabeth Acevedo was releasing a new book. I heard great things about her writing and was looking forward to this ARC. However, I could not connect with this book. There were too many points of view and it was hard to keep track of which character was speaking. The writing was beautiful at times, but the plot did seem to meander and drag on and on. This book was just not my cup of tea.

It’s only March, but I have a feeling this book will be one of my top books of 2023. It’s rare that I encounter a book where I love the characters and the writing so much that I want to savor it instead of race through it, but this is how I felt about Family Lore.

The story follows Matilde, Flor, Pastora and Camilla, four sisters from rural Dominican Republic who now live in New York, and two of their daughters, Yadi and Ona, as they prepare for an unusual event - a living wake for Flor. I loved every minute that I spent with these women, who are strong and flawed and inspiring and whose love for each other defines everything that happens in these pages. The sisters and cousins each have a special, slightly supernatural gift, and it’s powerful to see how each woman learns how to wield her gift.

The book is structured as a compilation of interviews from the four sisters and two cousins collected by Ona, Flor’s daughter and an anthropologist by training. I am truly in awe of the way that Acevedo crafted this narrative, weaving in between present day and the past in the DR, with little pieces of commentary by Ona popping up throughout the interviews, while never making me feel lost as a reader. Each of the women has a distinct voice and personality that comes through in the sections narrated by her, which adds richness to the story.

Family Lore unspools themes of feminism, identity and history, migration, sexuality, death and grief, what we owe to our family and what we owe to ourselves. Though I found the novel to be ultimately uplifting, it also deals with some heavy things including infertility and pregnancy loss, physical and sexual abuse, incarceration and trauma, and grief and death. Acevedo handles all these themes with utmost care and i felt that everything she included had a reason for being in the story.

I have a feeling I’ll be thinking about this book and these characters for a long time.

Amazing book about family and generational trauma, and how it affects others in the family. I really related to Matilde, having been in a family where it was well known an uncle cheated but it was kept under wraps to avoid embarrassment. The characters are easy to understand and I couldn’t stop reading

I love all of Elizabeth Acevado’s books. This book is the first one I have read that isn't written in prose. Its represents each family member’s point of view. Knowing how their lives were from past to present. The book also refers to a family member planning a wake before death. In my point of view, the book is okay. Read via NetGalley.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an advance copy for review.

I have read all of Elizabeth Acevedo's previous books and loved them all, but this one did not hold my attention as much as I would have liked. I tried to finish it but I just couldn't. There were too many POVs and the story jumped back and forth in time which became very confusing.

What I did like was the multi generational aspect and learning about each family members magical gift.

From the Publisher:
Flor has a gift: she can predict, to the day, when someone will die. So when she decides she wants a living wake—a party to bring her family and community together to celebrate the long life she’s led—her sisters are surprised. Has Flor forseen her own death, or someone else’s? Does she have other motives? She refuses to tell her sisters, Matilde, Pastora, and Camila.

But Flor isn’t the only person with secrets. Matilde has tried for decades to cover the extent of her husband’s infidelity, but she must now confront the true state of her marriage. Pastora is typically the most reserved sister, but Flor’s wake motivates this driven woman to solve her sibling’s problems. Camila is the youngest sibling, and often the forgotten one, but she’s decided she no longer wants to be taken for granted.

And the next generation, cousins Ona and Yadi, face tumult of their own: Yadi is reuniting with her first love, who was imprisoned when they were both still kids; Ona is married for years and attempting to conceive. Ona must decide whether it’s worth it to keep trying—to have a child, and the anthropology research that’s begun to feel lackluster.

Spanning the three days prior to the wake, Family Lore traces the lives of each of the Marte women, weaving together past and present, Santo Domingo and New York City. Told with Elizabeth Acevedo’s inimitable and incandescent voice, this is an indelible portrait of sisters and cousins, aunts and nieces—one family’s journey through their history, helping them better navigate all that is to come

My thoughts:
All told, the title of Acevedo's adult novel is perfect. Reminiscent of Zora Neale Hurston's anthropological studies of magical practices and how those practices show up everyday life, Acevedo delivers a lyrical exploration of life and loss through the lines of one family. At times the tempo of the book was more andante and could have used a bit more allegro, but it always had a [heart]beat. I recommend without hesitation.

This book is a masterpiece. I always look forward to reading novels by this author, and I was so excited to get this one as an ARC. The women in this story are beautifully woven together and the theme of generational trauma being passed down or hidden from others I deeply related to. I saw the women of my own large Mexican family. I felt connected to the words. I cannot recommend this enough.

I absolutely love Elizabeth Acevedo so when i found out that she wrote an adult novel, I just knew I would love it!! Acevedo's work has always been so poetic and just dreamy.

Pros: I have loved Elizabeth Acevedo’s YA novels, so I was very interested to read her first novel for adults. Although I did not like Family Lore as much as The Poet X, Clap When You Land, and With the Fire on High, I still thought it was a very well-written book. It is a family story of sisters, mothers, daughters, and cousins, and there is depth to all their relationships and personal histories.

One of my favorite parts of the reading experience of the author’s previous novels was listening to the audiobooks, which are read by the author. I think I would like this book even more in an audiobook format rather than ebook, which is how I read it.

Cons: None really. I didn’t like this book as much as I did the author’s YA books, but the author is so talented that my “not favorite” of hers is still better than most fiction I read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ecco for the opportunity to read this book.

It pains me to say this is the first book by Elizabeth Acevedo I do not like :( It was so slow and confusing, and I didn't really care for the character, which is something that never ever happened while reading her books. I usually fall in love with her characters within the first chapter. Oh well, can't win them all :(

Adult fans of Elizabeth Acevedo, she’s written one for you! In Family Lore, the acclaimed YA author of The Poet X and With the Fire on High focuses on the women of the Marte family. From their childhood on a farm in the Dominican Republic to their current lives as busy seniors in modern-day New York, the four sisters of the Marte family have known they each have a unique gift. Flor’s is knowing who will be the next in the community to die. So when she decides to throw herself a “living wake,” her sisters Camila, Pastora, and Matilde, her adult daughter Ona, and her niece Yadi are all understandably worried and upset. As the book unfolds, the family members take turns narrating the story, plumbing their memories as they attempt to reassure themselves that Flor, and the rest of the family, will be all right.

Likes: Acevedo nails the historical family drama. Her writing style is always compelling, and in this context gets to flower into full bloom. The narrative isn’t fast-paced and has room for the lush descriptions, funny asides, and sharp observations that kept me eagerly turning the pages. This large cast is full of sharp tongues and strong personalities; I did not have any problem keeping the characters straight (there’s a handy family chart at the beginning). The magical touches also helped to differentiate the women and gave the narrative a hint of fantasy, which I enjoyed. I loved learning about the history of the Dominican Republic and how each woman ended up in New York.

Dislikes: In a cast this full, not every character will get equal treatment, and I felt like in this book, Camila’s story was less effective and added the least to the overall narrative. The book, given that it is not YA, is free to be far more sexually graphic than the author’s previous work, and it went there a little more than is my preference. In particular, one character had a fetish that I did not feel added much to the book.

FYI: attempted sexual assault, references to murder and violence, marital infidelity, death of a family member, miscarriage, infertility.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.
I loved the conceit of this book - the idea of the daughter as anthropologist exploring the history of the women of her family. I enjoyed getting to know the women as the perspectives switched through the different women - however, there didn't seem to be any real conclusion to the "study" the daughter was conducting - we were just seeing the data collected. The story ended as it had to, telegraphed from the very beginning, and it was a satisfying ending.
I appreciated the forward approach to the sexuality of the women in this text, but sometimes it felt intrusive almost, like I was privy to something I shouldn't be. It also took me out from the concept of the text, as I couldn't imagine some of these characters opening up to the main character in the way they do.
In the end, this book didn't have the emotional punch I expected it to have for me, though I would love to read more from Acevedo in the future.

I really enjoyed Acevedo’s writing in this one. It was my first novel I have read by her and I really enjoyed reading. There’s something about family dramas that pulls me in, this one did not fail me. Adding in the magical realism, I’m hooked. There were times however that I had to go back and reread as some of the plot lines and characters were difficult to keep up with, but the story itself was intriguing. Rating 3.25 round up to 4.

This is my first Elizabeth Acevedo book and on paper this was written for me in mind but it just didn't quite work out for me. The way Acevedo executed the characters made it hard to keep track of who's who, we're jumping from one person to the next including everything that's going on in their life. Usually I have no problem keeping up with the characters and telling them apart but I was struggling with this one and had to backtrack to see who point of view I'm in and quickly recall what's going on in their life. I do love the writing though and I will definitely keep an eye out for what Acevedo put out next especially if it's Adult.

Thanks to Ecco books for the publicity review copy of FAMILY LORE by Elizabeth Acevedo, out August 1.

This is the story of a Dominican-American family told by its women; the ones who have gifts. It's their relationships with each other, their relationships with the past, and the stories of their present.
This story is imbued with complex family relationships, magical realism, and so much heart. Elizabeth Acevedo continues to be a must-read author for me.

Family Lore is Acevedo's first novel (not in verse). It is the story of 4 aging sisters from the Dominican Republic who have spent most of their adulthood in New York City. The book, however, does return to the Dominican Republic so as to fill in their lived histories and experiences.

Each of the Marte sisters has a gift, except for Matilde.. Flor has dreams that seem to come true (especially about death), Pastora can read and sense truths, and Camila is gifted in herbs and plants. Only Matilde is without a gift, but, she is an amazing dancer. While the others all have a child, Matilde is childless and is married to a cheating husband. As the story commences, Flor has decided to have a "living wake" for herself. She wants to bring together her entire family so that they can pay tribute to her, although no one can figure out why she wants to have such an event if she is still very much alive.

The story is told from the point of view of Anaconda (Ona), who is Flor's daughter. Ona is an anthropologist, and although she unsure as to why she is collecting so many notes on her family, she continues to do so anyway in an effort to document their story.. She interviews her aunts so as to piece together their lives and what has brought them to where they are now. The sisters are extremely close, having always looked out for each other, especially because their own mother was unkind and detached. As the sisters, Ona, and her cousin Yadi (Pastora's daughter) prepare for the wake, more and more stories (and issues) emerge.

I was excited to read this novel and it definitely did not disappoint, I found it to have echoes of Angie Cruz's writing, with many family details coming through as the book evolves. The Marte sisters are interesting, each in her own right, as are the two cousins, Ona and Yadi. The complexities of Dominican immigrant families are highlighted in stunning prose.

The book drops in September 2023.

Elizabeth Acevedo has an incredible gift for words and I've enjoyed her earlier YA works. Family Lore brings in the complexities of family relationships and the lingering effects of decisions made long-ago (sometimes even generations ago!) amid the backdrop of a rich and vibrant community and a touch of magic. I enjoyed the different perspectives as a way to experience the fierce way the sisters and daughters loved one another and tried to find their footing as their definitions of home and family evolve over time, across physical distances and with the entrance and exit of important figures in their life. I found the second half of the book to go much faster than the first half - maybe it's the pacing of the story, maybe it's more intimate knowledge of the characters. While I still prefer Acevedo's other works, I'm looking forward to her future work outside of YA. Overall this was a 3.75/5 for me.

Many thanks to Ecco and NetGalley for this e-arc.

As far as I am concerned everything Elizabeth Acevedo writes is gold. I have adored her books and poetry for young adults and shrieked with delight when I learned she had an adult novel in the works. No surprise, it was a joy to read. This is not a fast read and thank goodness for that. I didn't want the book to end so took my sweet time reading it. It deserves to be read slowly and with thought. Each of the women of the Marie family have a story to tell and there was no one character that I didn't want to hear more about. My only complaint is that the ending came too soon, I wanted to stay with the family even longer.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.