Review by Booklist Review
National Book Award--winning YA author Acevedo enters the realm of adult readers with a juicy novel of sisterhood, resilience, and magic. Most of the women in the Marte family are born with supernatural gifts, except for the oldest, Matilde, who is kind and a great dancer. Flor's gift is the ability to "see" death. After watching a documentary about a living wake recommended by her college professor daughter, Ona, and witnessing the outpouring of love for the elderly Mexican immigrant, Flor decides to hold her own wake. Ona's response is to conduct interviews with family members for her ethnoanthropological research; this becomes the meat of the novel. Her narratives about each tía, her mother, vegan cousin Yadi, and her own first-person testimonios are peppered with asides and transcripts and seasoned with fluid code-switching between English and Spanish. Over the course of four roughly chronological sections, Acevedo, via Ona, dramatizes the sisters' often traumatic history in the Dominican Republic and challenging present in New York City with insightful sympathy and love. Acevedo's novel starring a spunky narrator will enchant both fans and new readers.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The first adult novel by the author of the YA best-seller, The Poet X (2018), is on many most-anticipated lists, stirring readers' anticipation.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The colorful adult debut from Acevedo (The Poet X) explores the bonds connecting the women of a Dominican family in New York City, some of whom have magical powers. Flor Marte, the clairvoyant second-born sister, whose dreams tell her when others are about to die, begins planning her own wake, while her older sister, Matilde, a brilliant dancer unhappily married to the unfaithful Rafa, nurses an attraction to her instructor's son. Their widowed younger sister, Pastora, knows about Rafa's infidelity and Matilde's crush on a younger man because she has a magical ability to perceive people's secrets; her interference in Matilde's life has dire consequences. Flor's daughter, Ona, who narrates, claims she can regulate her menstrual cycle ("your popola has magic?" asks her aunt Camila, the youngest of the four). There's also Pastora's daughter, Yadi, whose old beau has just been released from prison while she prepares the food for Flor's wake. Though the various magical elements aren't very well developed, Acevedo is brilliant at portraying the women's love and loyalty for one another. The author's fans will eat this up. (Aug.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
With the intricate family dynamics of Julia Alvarez's works and the magical realism of Isabel Allende's oeuvre, Acevedo's first foray into adult literature is both classic Acevedo and something entirely new. Flor Marte, who has the gift of knowing when someone will die, is inspired to organize a living wake for herself. The novel chronicles the days leading up to the event as her Dominican American family--including her sisters, daughter, and niece--tries to decipher what Flor's request really means. Flor isn't the only Marte woman with a special ability: Pastora can read people's truths; Camila has an affinity for herbs. Each of the Marte women is struggling with a secret, and they all come to a head in the days surrounding Flor's wake. The alternating viewpoints reveal hidden family history and trauma and how they have echoed their way into the present generation. The setting alternates between the Dominican Republic and New York City and takes place across multiple time lines. The novel's language is magnetic, and the masterly character development will make readers want to be part of this complicated family, issues, and all. Covering the topics of sisterhood, immigration, female sexuality, and gender, this timely and nuanced work will resonate with young adults. There are several scenes of sexual intercourse that make this more appropriate for older teens. VERDICT Purchase where Acevedo's novels are popular and where magical realism and family dramas are in demand.--Shelley M. Diaz
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A sprawling novel about the regrets and desires of a family of women. Acevedo's widely anticipated new novel, her first for adults, begins with an oblique bit of magic: Flor, who for her whole life has been able to predict when and how people will die, announces that she will be holding a living wake for herself, and all her siblings are invited (and their children, too). Whether Flor has predicted her own death--or anyone else's--doesn't become clear to either the reader or Flor's family until later. In the meantime, we're introduced to Flor's sisters, Matilde, Pastora, and Camila; her daughter, Ona; and her niece Yadi, many of whom have magical powers of their own. Chapters alternate among points of view, but unfortunately, Acevedo hasn't endowed any of these characters--aside from Ona--with a particularly distinctive voice, which means that it can take a bit of effort to remember who's who. The novel's pacing sags, too, and despite the anticipation of Flor's upcoming wake, there isn't much in the way of forward momentum. In places, Acevedo's prose seems rushed or slightly tangled. At one point, she writes, "the alarm system that most folk have that trip one into fight or flight was muted in Flor"--an unnecessarily wordy sentence that relies on a mixed metaphor. Even the casual references to magic feel tired, as if Acevedo had borrowed the affectation from other writers but hadn't imbued it with a flavor all her own. Elsewhere, though, the prose shines: "Maybe that is the original definition of nightmare? A dream that gallops through, dragging the dreamer from one haunting to the next." An uneven effort with somewhat flat characters and prose that fails to sing consistently. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
