I'm so sad to DNF Family Lore, but I am finally accepting that I need to let it go. I love Elizabeth Acevedo's writing and have marked her YA books very high -- this coming from a reader who typically does not enjoy YA books. The writing is lovely and the narrators in the audio version are wonderful. But this book's story just was not for me. My deep gratitude to NetGalley and Harper Audio for the chance to experience this audio ARC.

I love Elizabeth Acevedo and her YA novels. Most of them I have even managed to get a hold of the audio versions that she reads. I even have a basic familiarity with Spanish, so the authentic names of foods and places doesn’t bother me. With all that said, I wanted to love Family Lore.
But I didn’t. I had a hard time keeping all the characters straight and their relationship to each other, and the magical elements felt like they were too much for me. I will go back and try this novel again in a different time in my life, but for right now, this was a miss.

Family Lore was a well written book as all of Acevedo books are very well written. This particular book (adult fiction-magical realism, etc) was. loaded with loveable characters, rich descriptions, beautifully crafted family relationships, drama and sometimes trauma.

The main character Flor Marte has a gift of dreaming and predicting deaths. She decides to throw herself a party, a wake if you will and she leaves her family wondering if she has seen her own death. She wanted to have this grand party while she was around to enjoy it, although she leaves her family extremely concerned. She uses several literary devices, one in which the audience is left wondering whether she time travels. The setting is between the DR and New York City.

The characters are rich in traits and leaves the reading enthralled and experiencing an up close view of family dynamics. Though the flash back to younger Flor was arresting, personally, flashbacks is not a preferred device that I find enjoyable.

Thank you Netgalley, Ecco, and Elizabeth Acevedo for the ARC for my honest review.

I appreciated the deliberate sprinkles of Spanish within the pages, and will continue to read books written by Acevedo.

This brings the perspectives of a variety of family members when one woman, Flor, decides to hold a living wake. The timeline switches between modern day and the past and between the Dominican Republic and the US. There isn't a set pace at which these changes between narrator and time happen and it got a bit confusing at points. There were parts of this book that I absolutely loved. Her writing is lyrical and some sections I was absolutely awed by. However, as a whole, it just didn't come together for me. It felt almost like a bunch of short stories about the same family and I never crossed over to seeing the why of the whole, nor did it sit well as just a journey of one family. The content does include discussion on infidelity and pornography, if that is something that offends you, this might not be the book for you. I listened to the audio and the readers were good, once I sped it up to 2X speed. It was worth a listen for me, but fell a bit short of my expectations, Many thanks to NetGalley, and Elizabeth Acevedo for allowing me to preview this book!

Flor can predict how people will die. She decides to have a living wake. This puts her family in a daze, has she seen something? The family starts to reflect on their lives. Flor’s sisters, daughters, and nieces. These women tell the story of this family from the Dominican Republic to New York. This novel had the lyrical writing Acevedo is known for. Her background in poetry truly helps her create such a lovely vivid world. She is also an amazing audiobook narrator. I loved this story of different generations and what they are experiencing during this time of transition.

I will never pass up the chance to listen to Elizabeth Acevedo narrate her own work. The talent she has for both writing and performing words is unmatched.
This multigenerational story technically happens over three days before a living wake but each sister and cousin get a chance to dive into history and explain how the women of the family came to be and why, through their choices in life, they were led to be where they are. It was beautifully written, funny at times and sad at others, and contained strong dynamic characters. Our leads felt real even with the "super powers". I loved that there wasn't a real explanation for the gifts the women had. Their reality was that they had them so a reason was not important.
The plot was sometimes hard to keep up with via audio because there was no hint given as to who was narrating whatever chapter you were on so you had to hope a name got dropped early.
I will say, you should be warned there is a lot of sexual content. This book is very rooted in the expression of sex and while I'm no prude, I would just say maybe don't listen to this one out loud in public.

Family Lore was such a pleasant surprise for me! I typically really struggle with magical realism, but this was such a fantastic take on the genre. The cast of characters in this generational drama was VAST, but I thought Acevedo did a phenomenal job delving into their respective lives, and I was truly invested in all of their stories. The only thing that didn't quite work for me was the resolution. There was so much build up to those final chapters, and I felt like the end was just a little anticlimactic. It had so much potential to be truly powerful and heartwrenching, and it just didn't quite get there for me. This was my first book by the author, and I'm looking forward to reading Acevedo's other works. Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

Loved the many POVs in this novel, but it sometimes became a little confusing. I found the writing to be excellent. The novel had a magical element that I thought was a nice touch to the characters.

Looking forward to reading other novels by Elizabeth Acevedo.

This book was another amazing read by Elizabeth Acevedo. I listened to the audio book but feel like it would have been easier for me to follow in a traditional book with all of the different perspectives. The book told an inter generational story of family, culture, hope, life and death. It captivated my attention from the beginning and was fantastic. I loved that it went back and forth in time.

Every family has their stories. Flor has been able to predict death since she was a little girl. Now, as an older woman, Flor decides to hold a living wake for herself. Flor appears healthy but won't tell anyone if she had another dream vision. Is it Flor who is going to die or someone else? This is a fantastic book told through the lens of the women in the family. I will read anything Elizabeth Acevedo writes - she's an engaging writer.

Thank you Netgalley for this advanced audio edition of Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo.

I actually had to switch between reading this and listening to it in order to get the hang of the story telling style and the actual story. It wasn't necessarily an easy story to get into. It switches narrators a lot, and quickly, and it also goes back and forth on the timeline, which made it hard to keep track of who and when we were talking about. I think overall I still got it.

I really want to say that I loved this story. It had a great start, one of the family matriarch's planning her own living wake, and the response of her surrounding family members. I loved the all female cast, the Latina culture, the magic, all of it. But my aforementioned issues really got in the way of my ability to sink in and immerse in the story. I had to work way too hard to keep track of characters, and plot lines. It's a bummer, because dang it had potential!

This book was gorgeous from page one. Elizabeth Acevedo is one of my favorite authors and I was excited to see an adult book from her! The prose, as always, was flawless and lyrical. The story gripped me and didn’t let me go. I cried, I laughed, and I enjoyed this book.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

I enjoyed Family Lore, but I have to admit that I thought I was going to enjoy it so much more than I did. I guess that's partly due to all the advanced hype and partly due to Elizabeth Acevedo's other fabulous books.

The book started off really strong for me- Flor is planning a living wake for herself and, of course, her sisters and other family members are quite surprised and concerned about this. From there, we learn about the four sisters and their daughters and all of their secrets. In many ways, the book feels like lots of interconnected stories, though we all keep returning to the time period when Flor is planning her wake.

There are a lot of characters we're introduced to pretty early on and for that reason, I think this would have been a much better book for me to read a hard copy of. It was hard to keep everyone straight via audio. Add the many characters to the fact that there's a lot of jumping in timelines and sometimes I felt like I had no idea what was going on. I had to rewind so many times!

But then other times, I was able to really sink into the stories and felt like I was in such a groove in the book. It just never seemed to last long enough.

I enjoyed Family Lore enough that I would absolutely consider a re-read with a copy of the physical book.

I struggled to get through this audiobook. The story was confusing because it went between the past and the present with different women's perspectives, and it was tough to differentiate between everything. I did enjoy getting to know the Latin culture, and I found the women's unique talents to be interesting, especially Flora’s ability to know when someone was going to die. Overall, this book was not for me, but I do think people would enjoy some of the aspects of the story, and it was still a beautiful story about a set of sisters.

Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo
If you have ever read a novel by Elizabeth Acevedo, you know that she has a way with words and the cadence of language. Up until this point, her novels have been geared towards young adults, but I must admit I have throughly enjoyed them all, With the Fire on High being my favorite.
Family Lore, an adult novel, is a much more complex piece of work. While Acevedo continues to teach the reader about Latin American culture and history, the structure of this family saga is layered. You have four sisters, each with a special gift, the setting across two countries, and two different timelines. It is a beautiful novel, but as the reader, you work hard to keep up. Having a working knowledge of Spanish is also a great help.

Thank you Netgalley!
This book was intense. I am already a super fan of Elizabeth Acevedo’s young adult books so when I saw that this novel was dropping I knew I needed to read it. The synopsis for this book was amazing. A family filled with women with gifts. A wake for someone still living. Family drama.
I knew from the moment that I started this book that it was going to be one of those reads that you really think about. I’m glad to say that it was.

DNF

I’m so sad because I was really looking forward to this one. I’ve really enjoyed Elizabeth Acevedo’s books, but she lost me on this one, and I really, really tried. Maybe it was that I was listening to it? What I can say is that I felt very uncomfortable with some of the descriptions of the female body and what can or is done. I will admit that I can be slightly prudish, but I’m usually not so averse, but I just could not deal with it.

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Well, now I'm pretty convinced Elizabeth Acevedo is the new Garcia Marquez. This was just a flawless piece of magical realism art! It was beautiful and poignant, poetic, and I just loved it so much. And The Audiobook narrated by herself is just OUT OF THIS WORLD AMAZING!

If you're drawn to intimate family sagas with an undercurrent of magical realism and a touch of mystery that explore the complexities of sisterhood, mother-daughter dynamics, and generational legacies, this captivating and beautifully written story about the lives of the Marte women, a Dominican-American family with unique gifts and complex relationships, is a must-read!

The Marte family's extraordinary abilities lend a touch of magical realism to the narrative, making it perfect for fans of contemporary fantasy. As the story unfolds over the three days leading up to a living wake, the tension builds, and the intricate relationships among the women come to the forefront.

Elizabeth creates the most amazingly realistic characters. You could swear you have a grandma, an aunt, or at least a cousin just like these! Especially female characters. No one captures the essence of femininity, womanhood, and motherhood as Elizabeth Acevedo! No one weaves relationships, secrets, and cultural heritage like Elizabeth Acevedo, neither.

You may not like this book if you don't like the "absurdity" of magical realism, prefer plot-driven to character-centered stories, or are not a fan of narratives that shift between multiple points of view or nonlinear storytelling.

The most beautiful writing is awaiting as a reward if you are willing to experiment, though! I cannot recommend "Family Lore" enough!

The story follows a Dominican family as they await a family event that just might change everything. Flor has a gift which allows her to see the impending death of the people around her, and now she has asked everyone to her own “living” wake. The whole family reels as they try to find out if Flor has foreseen her own death. But Flor is not the only family member with secrets.

Acevedo tells a powerful story about family and female relationships. The female characters are the focus in this story. They are powerful and conflicted; strong and struggling; supportive and fiercely loyal. Acevedo explores what is said and unsaid between family members and offers her characters opportunities to heal the wounds of the past.

I listened to the audio version of this novel which is primary narrated by the author. Acevedo brings a performance that adds another layer of emotion with her vocal storytelling. I highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance readers edition of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I have enjoyed the other Elizabeth Acevedo books I have read and this is no exception. It follows a family who is somewhat magical and talks of family legacy and growing together. I think the most intriguing part of this book was the impact that the family members had on each other. The main characters of this novel were female and as the time and generations passed it was evident how these women grew into their own and broke out of some traditions.