Author creates rich, vibrant world
Prediction of death brings family together
Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo (Canongate, $36.99). Reviewed by Louise Ward
Family Lore is a novel of sisters, mothers, aunts, nieces and cousins, centred around Flor, a Dominican woman with the gift of dreaming when death will come.
When Flor announces she will be hosting her living wake, the family gather: concerned, confused, supportive and exasperated.
The relationship between the older sisters is central to the story. Matilde is the eldest, then Flor, Pastora and the youngest, “forgotten” sister, Camila.
They all grew up in the Dominican Republic, then left at various intervals for New York, where most of the narrative takes place.
The sisters possess gifts, magic that seems as natural as any skill or talent. Matilde does not have a known affinity, but can dance like a thing heaven-sent.
As the wake is planned and prepared for, Flor’s daughter Ona collects the sisters’ stories, interviewing them for a potential academic paper related to her anthropology research.
She probes their hearts and souls for stories of the love, loss, hurt and betrayal that make up each woman.
These are the stories Ona and her cousin Yadi have inherited, that have been, until now, withheld from them, the things the aunts share and don’t share.
The world of this novel is a vibrant, living thing.
Matters of the heart are central; why choices made may be the right ones even when they don’t seem right to others. What the heart yearns for, what it can have and how it protects itself are also explored, as the women know each other intimately, but only in some ways.
The tone is playful, the complexities of life and people taken seriously, yet with an eye on the absurd.
Family Lore is a rich portrait of family in all its beauty and intricacy. Acevedo’s writing shimmers, warmly inviting us into the hearts and homes of these characters.
You can taste the lime, feel your heart bruise and swell, hear the beat of the salsa. It’s a sensual, startling book peopled by characters who leap from the page, swinging their hips. A beautiful read.