Book Review: Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo

Rating: 5/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

👋🏾 Happy Wednesday! In this newsletter, you’ll find…

📚An unfiltered book review

📝 A thought-provoking journal prompt

🎙An audio version of this review

Read a synopsis of the book plot here because I’m not going to copy and paste from elsewhere.

Publisher: Ecco

My Thoughts

2024 is starting strong with my first five-star read: Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo. You should know that I am a big fan of Acevedo’s work and have a copy of every book written by the author. What’s most interesting about all that she has published to date, is that every work is different. We have poetry, young adult contemporary, and adult contemporary works.

What do all of these works have in common? Stellar turns of phrase, real-life characters, and untranslated Spanish, alongside well-thought-out, creative plot lines. Not to mention, Acevedo grows as a writer with each new work.

Now, this book isn’t going to be for everyone.

I would say that because her other works are written with young adults in mind, the writing is very accessible. In Family Lore, we get writing for adults with more complex ideas and storylines you have to follow. The writing is still lyrical in quality and therefore still very accessible, but the concepts inside have more depth with larger perspectives.

Also, Acevedo quite successfully delves into magical realism as a plot device. The story is told through the lens of women who have magical gifts, but that doesn’t lead us down a path of fantasy. Instead, the gifts amplify the joy and struggles these women face, through generations, that affect their life outcomes.

Why is this book a cut above the rest? Thus far this year, I have read 15 books and this is the first of the bunch to give me something different, while still giving me pause to take note of a particularly juicy sentence. Also, Acevedo is particularly good at making the reader feel like they too are from a Latino family and that the lived experiences of the people in the book are no different than that of my own.

I have both the physical and audiobook versions of this book and I recommend that you listen to Family Lore. Listening helped me fully appreciate the cadence of the writing and how dialect affects the inflection of the sentences written on the page. Also, if you haven’t read the entirety of Acevdo’s catalog, go ahead and add them to your ‘To Be Read’ list.

“I was unnatural in no fruitful way. I would not say my mother shunned me, but if her love was the twin of fear, she stopped being afraid of my future.”

- Audre Lorde

Journal Prompt: Was there ever someone in your career path who doubted you?

This book chronicles the life of women who have not had it easy. Women who have had to make tough choices for their preseent and futuree. Women who only know harsh love and harsh guidancee.

My answer: absolutely. I’ve been doubted by those who should support me and fully buy into my dreams to teach me all that I needed to knoow for success. It was tough and I recognize that had I been supported, the trajectory of my life may have been totally different.

However, I do believe that my life is unfolding the way is was meant to be lived. I have no regrets on the path I have taken to where I am now. I am definitvely more confident because of overcoming the doubts of others.

I cannot say that I am grateful for theeir lack of support, but I can say that they weren’t able to break me or stop my career success. For that, I am proud and grateful for my own stubborness.