On the surface, this book has all of the elements that I typically love. It follows multiple POVs of a family, it's women-centered, there are elements of magic and culture, and it is written by the incredibly talented Elizabeth Acevedo to top it off. That is why it is so devastating that I am giving it two stars.

As I said, I typically enjoy books that follow multiple POVs despite having to concentrate a bit harder to keep track of the characters. The first book that comes to mind is Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, in which every single chapter follows a different descendant of the same family. Despite the long list of characters, I was enamored with that book. However, Family Lore felt like it had so much going on that the characters and storylines became confused. I never felt connected to any of the characters, and although they each had their own storylines and magical abilities, I felt like most of their POVs weren't distinct enough. I felt like I was getting way too much information, and simultaneously didn't get to spend enough time with each character. I wanted to feel close to each character, but instead I felt a certain distance throughout the novel.

I also felt like the plotline was unfocused and there were too many flashbacks. Every time I thought we were finally going to get to spend a good chunk of time in the present, a new flashback started. For a novel set around a living wake, the wake itself barely got any page time. I also very much disliked the strange indenting that Acevedo used to signal the start of a flashback and the interjections from the narrator. They disrupted the flow and added to the already jumbled progression of the novel.

A few other points: the addition of a character with a magical vagina was something I couldn't get behind. I found the descriptions of it gross, to be frank, and I didn't feel that it added anything to the book. I also wondered why we barely got Camila's POV and didn't get Samuel's at all. I understand that the novel centers around women, but if we are getting POVs from all the other siblings, why not Samuel, too? Lastly, the many moments of added Spanish with no English translation were a bit frustrating and took me out of the story as well. Usually, in books where characters talk in a different language, the author paraphrases it in English so that readers can still understand what is being said even if they don't know the language. In Family Lore, there is so much untranslated Spanish that I felt like I was missing things. I know I can use Google Translate, and I sometimes did, but that also interrupted the flow of the book. 

There's no doubt that Acevedo is an incredible writer, and it was her writing that kept me reading despite my disenjoyment of the story. I will absolutely pick up whatever she writes in the future. Unfortunately, Family Lore just wasn't for me.