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meganpbennett's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Gabby DiMarco takes a DNA test for work, to write a story, without knowing that, soon, she is going to be the story. Shortly after her results are posted, Isabella emails her, telling her that she's her sister, who as abducted as an infant from Puerto Rico. The story is told in non-linear fashion, with snippets of what really happened 25 years ago interspersed within the 'today' of Gabby and Isabella investigating. Isabella wants Gabby to accept that she's the kidnapped child; Gabby wants nothing more than to disprove the DNA test and write a story about how the company is giving people false hope.
I found the story to be very interesting, but what happened in the 'then' very much fell apart about halfway through. A good fact-checker, like Gabby, would have found the holes and torn them apart in minutes. It's out of character that Gabby didn't investigate further.
Thank you to Kensington for the ARC of Familia.
I found the story to be very interesting, but what happened in the 'then' very much fell apart about halfway through. A good fact-checker, like Gabby, would have found the holes and torn them apart in minutes. It's out of character that Gabby didn't investigate further.
Thank you to Kensington for the ARC of Familia.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Infertility, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Rape
theliteraryteapot's review
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Familia is a contemporary novel focusing on, as the title says it all, family and past tragedies through following two protagonists solving a mystery after a DNA test and matching.
Familia is a contemporary novel focusing on, as the title says it all, family and past tragedies through following two protagonists solving a mystery after a DNA test and matching.
I found the premise intriguing as I never really thought much about DNA testing. The different perspectives are interesting and made me curious about this thing: what happens when you actually get your results and find out something, like a relative, a new family, or that your whole life is a lie? What do you make of it? Do you shrug and forget about it, or do you try to learn a bit about this part of yourself? You may start questioning your entire existence, have an identity crisis, etc. It can for sure be a life changing event. And I think it's nice to have a book about this topic.
I enjoyed Familia. It wasn't too long nor too short. I thought the story was told well through the structure of the book and its narration. I liked the author's prose was well; simple, not poetic but not too much dialogue. The mystery part of the novel was good, obviously you want to know. Because of the first chapter, I don't think the mystery is about the DNA test result, but clearly more about what went wrong to lead to this. I think the main theme remains family, with the classic questions: what it means, does blood only make family, are you willing to start bonding with a newly found family member, and so on.
There were a lot of different points of vue and I have to say I sometimes got lost, in particular regarding the recurrent characters and the chapters in the past but it's fine. I personally think that Isabella's pov was the most interesting. She could be annoying at times, being a little naive and not taking into account Gabby's feelings about this whole situation they were both in. Obviously, her way of seeing things is understandable. Nevertheless, the author gives Isabella a well appreciated character development.
This book takes place for the most part in Puerto Rico. I can't really say anything about the representation of Puerto Rico and the Latino/hispanic culture as it is not my place. The only thing I will say though is how I wasn't too sure about the constant reminders that certain places were far from being safe, and the whole "drugs, crime, child traffic" thing because in my opinion it lacked nuance. I feel like I didn't get to see another side of Puerto Rico? From my small experience, Latinos and their culture are often represented as that old 'criminals' cliché. Then again, I don't know how valid my opinion is. But is there enough of a balanced, or enough of a positive, latino representation in general so these themes can still take so much space in one book? It is noted in the preface of the book that the author has origins from Puerto Rico through her grandparents and she clearly stated she wanted to give justice to the Puerto Rico of her grandparents, that she meant well. So maybe this lack of nuance comes more from her own unconscious American and western vision of Puerto Rico and Latin America in general.
If you want to read about family, DNA testing consequences in a Puerto Rico setting with a touch of mystery novel, then go for it. Be very careful with the trigger warnings.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder
Minor: Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
gabbys_booklog's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction and Alcoholism
Minor: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Death of parent