I love Acevedo’s books (With the Fire on High, Clap When You Land, The Poet X) but I didn’t find this one as moving or enjoyable as her others. This is Acevedo’s first book for adults rather than young adult. It’s about six women in a Dominican-American family in New York. Flor and her three sisters each have unusual gifts. Flor can see in her dreams when someone she knows is going to die. She decides one day to hold a living wake for herself, and her three sisters, her daughter and her niece are expected to plan the event. Has Flor dreamed her own death this time? Flor isn’t telling.
Acevedo is a beautiful writer and I very much enjoyed her blending of Spanish and English, but this book felt slow. I thought six narrators was too many, as I struggled to remember the history and unique abilities of each character. Having many different points of view seems to be a trend in fiction that I don’t love. The characters of Yadi and Matilde stood out the most to me, and I would have loved a whole book about them. But youngest sister Camila seemed like an afterthought, Pastora felt underdeveloped, and most important, I struggled to feel connected the primary narrator, Flor’s daughter Ona.
Also, the chronology kept shifting and there were times, perhaps due to the format of the ebook, that I wasn’t sure whether we were in the past or present.
There was so much going on in this book, but with all the different characters and timelines, ultimately it didn’t have the emotional impact it was striving for. The relationships between the family members was never well developed and I expected to see more growth in the characters than I did. I think the story lacked focus, which is very unlike Acevedo’s previous books, which even though they are for young adults, never felt simple or immature.
This book reminded me a lot of The Fortunes of Jaded Women, a book I had mixed feelings about for similar reasons. If you loved that one, I recommend this (or vice versa).
Note: I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley and publisher Ecco. This book published August 1, 2023.
