Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo

5 reviews

znvisser's review

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I love multiple POV family sagas, but four sisters and two of their daughters is too many similar characters to be introduced to in such a short story; I kept forgetting what happened to whom or whose daughter they were, so I spent the first half of each chapter trying to remember which woman, partner and/or story it was about. 

As my Spanish is very limited (and most of my interpretations were more a result of more elaborate French and Italian knowledge), I fear lots of it went over my head. Although I understand it is more authentic if bilingual people think and speak in a mix of their languages, I understood most of these conversations as fully Spanish anyway, so I don’t understand the need for codeswitching in text. And Ona’s quotes interrupting the story and just rerouting it elsewhere was confusing too, because it was yet another (third!) cause for me to lose track of what was going on. Because of all these storylines I felt there were many loose ends too. I wasn’t uninterested in these women but reading about them in this way was a struggle, and additionally, there was a surprising amount of sex and horniness for a family story (in part due to Ona’s magical “wet wet” ?🫠). 

There were some details in the writing that I really liked but as a reading experience this was weird and confusing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Infertility, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Infidelity, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Miscarriage and Grief

yvo_about_books's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

2.0

Finished reading: August 6th 2024

"It’s silly to have a nickname for a nickname, but we’d always loved taking apart each other’s names and seeing how else we could arrange the letters into love."

I'm honestly still shocked this happened. I absolutely loved Elizabeth Acevedo's YA books, and I confess that I added Family Lore without even reading the blurb first. I hadn't realized it was her adult fiction debut, and I hadn't realized it was going to be a family saga with a magical realism vibe... Because I probably wouldn't be in such a hurry to read it otherwise. This type of family sagas doesn't usually work all that well for me, although there have been exceptions in the past... But sadly Family Lore wasn't one of them. I have to stress here that this is by no means a badly written book; it's simply a case of me not being a good fit for this story. Add the fact that my fickle reading mood has been acting up again, and this type of slower and more character-driven stories just don't work for me at the moment, and it's definitely a 'it's not you, it's me' problem. Family Lore is 100% a magical realism family saga a la Gabriel García Márquez, and if you enjoy this kind of stories you will most likely enjoy Family Lore as well. There is a huge cast of characters involved and a multiple POV structure to consider where we learn more about the lives of most of them. Make sure to brace yourself for a LOT of drama and issues! For me personally they overshadowed the truly interesting (and magical realism) part of the plot, but then again I'm never a fan of family drama in the first place. Like I said before, I simply wasn't a good match for Family Lore! That will teach me to read the blurb first even if I've loved the author's work in the past... 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

celery's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

How many different words do you need to describe a vagina?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

readingpicnic's review against another edition

5.0

Wow, this book is incredible! I haven’t been so caught up in a fiction book in so long. I loved how complicated all the characters were, how distinct their voices were, the little powers they had, everything! The alpha vagina power? Incredible. I love the humor in this book so much. The food descriptions were excellent as always, as Elizabeth Acevedo clearly writes with so much passion and love for food and how it's made and enjoyed as a community. All of the different generations of women with points of view in this story did such a good job showing generational trauma within this family and cycles of abuse, as well as just how complicated familial relationships are in general. I love everything Elizabeth Acevedo has written, but this is a new favorite.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, and Infidelity

cadence99's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a fantastic first read for me from Elizabeth Acevedo. Her writing is deeply lyrical, and drew me in so easily to the narrative of this family’s story. Thought it’s not normally my favorite format, I REALLY loved the shifting points of view and flashes back and forth between timelines here. In written form, the flow felt so natural, weaving in remembrances of life as the book simultaneously works toward its conclusion. However, I’m really glad that I read a physical copy and not audio, because I think I would’ve had a much more difficult time following the narrative. 

One think I didn’t LOVE here was that it felt VERY clear that the author was making their debut into adult fiction- there is no mistaking that there are adult themes at play, to an extent that they felt overused. 

This book was an emotional, funny, and hopeful anthology of a family’s love. It left me feeling deeply connected to the characters and to their history

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Ableism, Colonisation, and Classism