An interesting look at a loving immigration family with a dash of magical realism. Family Lore is sprawling compared to Acevedo's YA works and, as such, the pacing is slower.

I wanted to like this book more but it just did not work for me. Not sure if I just wasn’t in the mood for it or if I genuinely did not care for it. I will try to reread it and hopefully my opinion will change on it because I have loved this author’s other books.

Thanks to Netgalley and Ecco for the ARC of this!

This was an interesting, family-centric story about life and death, love and sisterhood, and a little bit of magic. I found myself wishing that more of the family’s gifts would be included, because I found the magic fascinating. The idea of planning a living wake was a new one to me and it made for a very unusual story.

I immediately ordered this title to carry in store, but jsut because of the compelling plot and fascinating characters, but becuase it’s felt so familiar. It was like being around my own very dysfunctional Dominican family and still learning that we are all damaged individuals afraid of the same things.

Was a little nervous about this because I love her YA work, but this was just as good. She knows how to tell a story about families.

Y’all I really tried with this. I gave it until 50% hoping that at some point it would make sense. But I could not for the life of me tell who was talking, what they were talking about, who was in what time period, and any of the inset portions. There was a really great part about the juvenile justice system that I liked, but it felt like it came from a different book. I also felt that the random sex scenes were inserted just to delineate this from her normal high-quality YA work. I don’t know if I would pick up another one of her adult books.

I really struggled with this book despite absolutely adoring Acevedo's YA works. I agree with many other reviewers that in this novel, her lyrical style lent itself to more confusion than clarity. I'm not opposed to having a big cast of characters and usually love a family drama; something about this just couldn't come all the way together for me.

I've read and loved two of Acevedo's YA novels, so my expectations were high for Family Lore. I enjoyed the cultural aspects of the book and the stories of the different family members. At times it was a bit too many things to keep track of between six narrators and almost every chapter having storylines in both the present and the past.

Acevedo is an incredible writer with such beautiful language and she’s able to bring the characters off the page so well. This story was unique and I enjoyed the characters greatly. The Marte women have gifts and Flor’s gift is the ability to know when people will die. She’s chosen to have a living wake, which sets off a chain of events that each member of the family must come to terms with. The story takes place over the course of three days leading up to Flor’s wake and the title really says it all: it focuses on family lore, the family’s history and stories.

As I said before, Acevedo is a stunning writer. Her work is incredible and you can feel the characters. I enjoyed seeing the family life and events through various characters perspectives. I was left in some places wanting more from the story, but this is a great piece of work by Acevedo and I do recommend giving it a read!

Family Lore is Elizabeth Acevedo's first adult novel after several successful middle grade novels. Following matriarchal characters and their female offspring in the Marte family, Family Lore looks at the past and present lives of these women. With a bit of magical realism, Acevedo's familiar storytelling is present without her usual prose writing. Although all elements didn't necessary work for me, I enjoyed the story Acevedo presented as a whole. The magical elements presented weren't overpowering in the storytelling, but were more of an extension of the characters themselves, which I pleased by. In the opening letter to the readers, Acevedo wrote that she drew from her own family in writing this novel and it shows with the care she took in writing all the women. I did miss the prose writing that was present in a couple of her previous books, but other elements, such as the description of food and the Dominican-American experience, are still present and thriving in Family Lore.

If you're a fan of Acevedo's work definitely grab the book. If you're also looking for a story that is full of strong women this book will also a good addition to your TBR.

Thank you to Atria Books and Netgalley for a copy in exchange for review consideration.

This is a character driven story. I almost DNF'd it, but I was curious how it was going to end. This is one of those books that I can see is good and lyrical, but not necessarily for me. I need a little more plot than this story offered. I have really liked this author's YA books, but this one was very slow for me and hard to get through. You have to like character driven stories to like this one, in my opinion. I copied the Goodreads blurb because it was very succinct in it's description. I couldn't describe what happened better. I hate to say it, but this one was not for me. I can see why people would like this though. The characters are interesting and show some growth. The premise is interesting but it didn't really go anywhere. There isn't much plot. But you can feel that the sisters and the whole family really care for one another.

Goodreads blurb - From bestselling, National Book Award-winning author Elizabeth Acevedo comes her first novel for adults, the story of one Dominican-American family told through the voices of its women as they await a gathering that will forever change their lives.

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.

Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo is a wonderful story about family. The history of four sisters’ lives with magic added. One of the sisters, Flor, decides to have a living wake for herself after watching a documentary. Her sisters, daughter and loved ones are expecting the worst, who has a wake unless they are dying? Ona, Flors daughter decides to write about her family and the book is different moments in each of the sisters lives along with their children’s and husbands. This book was beautiful and I loved reading about this family seeing their Dominican culture come to life on page. I being Latina saw myself in these people and saw my mom and aunts in these women. It reminded that’s it’s important to know our family lore and to celebrate it. I loved how Elizabeth Acevedo included touches of magic within this family that furthered their story and their experiences. I knew how talented Elizabeth Acevedo was having read her YA books but this adult debut spoke to me so deeply. I love what she is doing for the Latine community. I gave this book 4.5⭐️ stars and I definitely urge everyone to pick it up and hopefully once you’ve read it are inspired to explore your family lore.

I enjoyed Family Lore, but not as much as Clap When you Land, which I thought was really beautiful. Family Lore is certainly more adult, focusing on a family of women, across two generations, sisters and their daughters, who immigrated from the Dominican Republic to New York. The women all have different magical powers, but they're subtle, and Flor can foresee deaths, and clearly sees her own death and decides to plan a wake for herself while she's still alive. The story alternates between perspectives, time periods and countries. It's not one of those stories that wraps up neatly, instead you feel like the stories will continue with future generations.

Elizabeth Acevedo has entered the land of adult fiction, and I hope that she stays for awhile. I always have enjoyed her narrative voice in her books geared towards a YA audience, especially her novel in verse, “Poet X”. She did not disappoint in her latest novel “Family Lore” in which she shares the multigenerational stories of Dominican-American sisters and their families as collected by Ona, the daughter of Flor and the niece of Matilde, Pastora, Camila. The audience learns that each woman in this family has a unique gift ranging from dreaming about future deaths to lighting up the dance floor. After watching documentary about a living funeral, Flor decides that she wants to do the same as to celebrate her life while still living. This sets the stage for the audience to learn family’s stories that are full of romance, hardship, perseverance, and love, always love.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the alternating perspectives. One detractor was Ona’s occasional interjections in a chapter, especially early on because it was difficult to identify the voice and its purpose. Otherwise, each character has such depth. I think that most readers will have a favorite family member. Mine was Matilde, so kind.

As a high school English teacher, I would recommend the book to Advanced Placement: English Literature students due to the mature sexual content.

I would like to thank Elizabeth Acevedo, Ecco, and NetGalley for the ARC.

The lives of four sisters in a Dominican-American family and two cousins offsprings of the sisters play out in this first adult novel by Elizabeth Acevedo. Flor, one of the fours sisters wants to bring the family and friends together to celebrate her long life - so what better way to do that than to throw a living wake for herself? The novel takes place over three days before the wake, as well as takes a step back in time to let readers into the intimate details of all their lives. There wasn’t much of a plot or character development - it was more about learning about the different players and their lives and relationships. The book didn’t keep me super engaged, unlike the author’s three other books, which I absolutely enjoyed (two five stars and one four-star). Overall, this was a bit of a disappointment as I was looking forward to her latest book. Family Lore was just an okay read for me. Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

DNF at 28%

I’m sad about this one. I’ve loved the author’s previous releases (I even gave two of them 5 stars!), but ultimately this just wasn’t working for me and was starting to put me in a reading slump.

I had a really hard time keeping track of the characters, having to refer back to the character list before starting *every single chapter* and the timelines going back and forth added to the complication of keeping track of the story. This book definitely will have its audience, and there’s no doubt that Elizabeth Acevedo is an incredible writer, but this just wasn’t for me. I still look forward to checking out future her books though!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC.

Also noting that normally I would not give a star rating to a DNF, but I must through NetGalley.

I am a huge fan of Elizabeth Acevedo and highly recommend her books. This book explores the female relationships in a Dominican family that has slowly all moved to New York City.

I had a harder time getting into this book with all of the different characters and points of view. There is a list of all of main characters and how they are related in the beginning of the book and I used this to make a family tree. This really helped to remember how all of them are connected to each other., their role in the family and their special talents. This book also flips back and forth in time, sometimes without warning or a visual cue, so I got lost a few times trying to figure out what was in the present and the past. I recommend having some dedicated time to read this book in order to better focus on the story and characters. I was also a little disappointed in the ending, it felt a little rushed to me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ecco for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I will preempt this by saying I’ve loved every single one of Acevedo’s YA books and constantly recommend them. I was so excited to get approved for this e-ARC.

First and foremost, this is a story of family: The Marte sisters (Flor, Matilde, Pastora, and Camila), and the Marte cousins Ona and Yadi. It’s a story of sisterhood and motherhood, and everything in between. It took me a while to get into the story, between the multiple narrators and the jumping timelines, it got a bit confusing. I felt I had a grasp os the story by the halfway point, which is much later than I would have liked.

The story is character driven, and the plot moves very slowly, but I really loved the flashbacks of the Marte sisters stories growing up. It helps us learn what has made them who they are. Their messy life experiences, dreams both fulfilled and unfulfilled, their mess ups and their happy moments.

The other aspect of this book is the magical realism. While very important for the plot, I felt the magical gift we get to hear the most is Flor’s, who is able to see when some will die, has decided to throw herself a living wake. I felt some of the others where not really developed. TBH I found Ona’s gift to be just odd.

I appreciated the way she highlights you inside Dominican families and culture, this tickles my Dominican heart to no end. But I worry some phrases may not be understood by those who are not spanish speakers or are unfamiliar with Dominican jargon.
I could not let the opportunity pass to pair this book with one of the most iconic Dominican dishes: Mangú con los tres golpes. It’s mashed plantains with fried egg, fried Dominican Salami and fried cheese, a complete cholesterol bomb but so so delicious.

If you love intergenerational stories, specially between women, this is probably a great one for you.

I love Elizabeth Acevedo's poetic prose, and her adult debut had a lot of strengths! However I think the ensemble cast felt a bit muddled and we didn't delve deeply into any particular family woman.

Elizabeth Acevedo’s first adult novel is just as poignant and beautiful to read as her young adult books. In Family Lore, we follow the women of a Dominican family of multiple generations. In a sort of brown up Encanto story, the women in the family are blessed with gifts, Flor’s gift is foretelling death, and she begins the novel by inviting the family to her own wake.

Elizabeth Acevedo reads the audio book and is an exceptional narrator. I normally don’t like when authors read their own fiction, but Acevedo has a talent for performing as well as writing. Highly recommend this book and the audio versions! Especially for fans of When Women Were Dragons or Olga Dies Dreaming.