Before I explain to you how disappointing one of my most anticipated books of 2023 was, I need to put it out there that Elizabeth Acevedo is one of my favorite authors of all time. When she announced Family Lore, her first novel for adult readers, I lost my mind with excitement and anticipation. And when August 2023 came, I was sick with worry because no bookstore here was stocking it. You know why? Because the Australian book market is weird like that. Half the global book releases are postponed Down Under and the same was the case with Family Lore.
It got pushed to September, then October, then November, then December. I was *this* close to losing my mind, this time out of frustration, when I finally found it at a bookstore on a casual visit. And you should have seen my husband when I saw this book. Because I was jumping and squealing at the sight of it, my husband was concerned, wondering why his wife was suddenly out of her mind. So you see how much I’d been anticipating it, which was one of the reasons for my disappointment to hit that much harder.
In today’s book review, I’m going to take you through what this book is about, what I liked about it – because it’s Acevedo, there’s bound to be a few things to like – and what exactly it was about this book that disappointed me so much.
If you’d like to watch a video about this book instead, the book review video is up on my YouTube channel. Here’s the link where you can watch it: Book Review – Family Lore.
Family Lore is basically a multigenerational saga that follows the women of the Marte family, but all of this revolves around Flor and her sisters, each of whom has a gift. Flor can predict when someone will die; Matilde, the oldest sister, is a dream on the dance floor; Pastora can tell whether someone is telling the truth or not; and Camila, the youngest, can make healing concoctions out of herbs. Some gifts also extend to the next generation to a certain extent, to Ona, Flor’s daughter, and Yadi, Pastora’s daughter.
One day, Flor decides to hold a living wake for herself and tells her family to organize one. Her family is now concerned that Flor might have seen her own death, but she isn’t telling them anything, only that she needs them to do this one thing without asking any questions.
We follow each of the Marte sisters and their daughters through the three days before the wake but we’re also taken back and forth in time through their pasts and their presents, with the intention to give us a clear picture of what shaped them into the people they are today.
I might have led with the negative, but truth is also that every Elizabeth Acevedo book will have some really beautiful writing, even if it is lost amidst all the chaos. Here’s what I liked about Family Lore:
First off, I love how unfiltered this book is when compared to her earlier books. It is refreshing to see because real life does have a lot of us swearing and cussing like sailors. For example, right off the bat, the first page has this phrase: “Flor was not great at keeping track of all the rituals, myths, and performances humans had conducted from Mesopotamia del carajo to now,” Mesopotamia del carajo apparently meaning ‘fucking Mesopotamia’. XD
Some parts are incredibly poetic – an Acevedo staple – and stopped me in my tracks, making me want to memorize everything she is saying.
One of the things that I love in every story that Elizabeth Acevedo puts out are the glimpses she provides into Dominican Republic culture. Being a little similar to Indian culture, I feel a little closer to her characters, and as a result, to Acevedo herself.
I also love how it reflects the familial relationships in Dominican culture. You might butt heads with your family members, but you will always be there for them as they will be for you. And this book is a testament to that because no matter how they are at each other’s throats, the Marte women will always fiercely protect each other.
Oh boy, now onto the unpleasant part of this review where I tell you about the parts of Family Lore that I did not at all like.
The thing about humans in today’s society – one that I hate the most – is that they think everyone needs to operate on the same timeline. Get married, have a child, have a second child, and bust your ass to stay afloat. Even so many of those who are stout champions of living one’s own life turn to the “Your life is sad if you don’t have a child” shtick once they cross these milestones. That’s exactly what happened here as well, and I was so gosh darn disappointed in Elizabeth Acevedo. Angry, even, because I wasn’t expecting her to insinuate these things, especially since so many of us look up to her.
Here’s the quote that set me off:
How do you learn to live with what will not be? How do you console yourself with the life that you have when the humans you love most are hopeful for more than you?
And my comment on that was:
“So disappointed right now. I thought at least Acevedo wouldn’t do the ‘I want more and by more I mean a baby because my current life is less than and I have to console myself to live it.’ But she did it. Multiple times over these 106 pages. I get it. Everyone is allowed to have their own wants and dreams, babies included. But to generalize it and say that you have to ‘console’ yourself with a childless life, as if it’s something sad – that’s what grinds my gears.”
There are way too many characters in here and little clarity about who is who. There is a character list at the beginning of the book but when new characters are introduced right up to the last section, it becomes more and more tedious to keep track. Plus, the ones that are already present are treated like they aren’t all that important. If they aren’t important to the story, why introduce them and then make it feel like they are? Or vice versa, if they are important to the story, why make it feel like they’re insignificant?
Look, I’m all for writing in our native languages and I don’t mind a bit of Spanish here and there. But when I have to go to Google Translate multiple times with every page turn, it breaks the flow and takes me out of the story, something that can get a tad bit annoying. This is one of those times where footnotes or a glossary towards the end of the book would be totally acceptable.
Because as much as being true to the characters is important – I have no problem with Spanish dialogue – it is also true that this book will reach a global audience, a vast majority of which doesn’t know Spanish. And that needs to be taken into account as well.
Flor calling her own daughter, ‘the girl’ kinda reeks of condescension for some reason. And Ona is no different. She thinks her mother doesn’t know better and her whole commentary gives her such a superior air. If she is narrating a story, she’s supposed to be neutral, even if it is her own family she’s doing an anthropological history about. And I get it. I get that a character is allowed to be condescending or anything else for the sake of the story. But when you have a story that is so confused about itself and where it wants to go, that character’s condescension is bound to make its way onto the negatives.
In a multigenerational saga like this, especially one that has so many characters, there has to be some structure to the story. Without it, it flounders and loses steam quite easily. Which is exactly what happened to this book. It felt like Acevedo tried to do too much with too much material and unfortunately, the two negatives didn’t cancel each other out.
The thing is… A story that doesn’t have a purpose or one that feels unbound can still give you meaning. But Family Lore, other than the overarching storyline of the connections of the Marte women, didn’t really give me any confidence in what I was reading. And this comes to a head at the climax because Flor saying, “Just do this for me,” or “This is all you need to know for now” makes it seem like there’s more, but all you find in the end is nothing more.
In the end, I just want to say that I love Elizabeth Acevedo’s writing and I will read anything she writes. But unlike her novel-in-verse stories, Family Lore was just not for me. I felt like the author tried to do too much but unfortunately accomplished very little story-wise.
But if these are something that you aren’t usually bothered by, you could give this book a go.
So that was my review of Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo. What did you think of my review? Did you like it? Did you not like it? Have you read Family Lore? If you have, what did you think of it? If you haven’t, will you pick this book up after reading my review? Let me know in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you!
If you’d like to watch this review instead, the book review video is up on my YouTube channel. Here’s where you can watch it: Book Review – Family Lore.
I’ll see you in the next blog post.
Until next time, keep reading, keep watching, and add melodrama to your life! ❤
The Melodramatic Bookworm 