Family Lore by Elizabeth AcevedoMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Acevedo’s adult debut is a sprawling multigenerational drama rife with magical realism and lots of interesting dynamics between the ladies of this Dominican family, both on the island and in New York. Shifting between the late 20th century (post Trujillo years, but with a few references to the old dictator and his propensity for forcing himself on women) and the present day, we get to see all sorts of mysterious magics making life tough for Flor, with her uncanny ability to predict death, and her sisters and daughters, and naturally it’s going to take a long awaited family reunion to bring all the drama to a boil. Some of these perspectives are more likable than others, and it feels a bit odd how Ona manages to discuss her bizarre “alpha vagina” powers with curiously childlike humor (I don’t remember Acevedo’s YA protagonists coming off this silly, quite the contrary), but this book is proof that even transitioning away from the YA audience isn’t going to rob Acevedo of her poetry at heart.
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