Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Dreaming of You by Melissa Lozada-Oliva

9 reviews

thelostbook's review

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dark emotional funny reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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rhi_'s review against another edition

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dark fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5


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toffishay's review

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emotional funny mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I really connect with Melissa's voice. This is funny and a little morbid and dives more into the author and the reader than anything else; like all poetry it reveals the most about you.

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gabgon2597's review

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dark funny reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


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anniefwrites's review

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dark funny mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
In other books, I'd see asking questions like "Wait, who is this character?" or "Where are we?" or "What is actually happening right now?" as flaws in the clarity of the language. But in this case, as the title implies, Lozada-Oliva has set us up to dream, to float in that liminal space between reality and imagined narrative, between seeing and being seen. So I just went along with the confusion I sometimes felt, and that release of control over knowing everything for certain was really freeing. I also think that the core scenes were clear enough to create really strong images and moments. It made me think about the way that violence and love can sometimes seem like the same thing because they're both rooted in wanting. And Book-Melissa's journey from constantly wanting to be watched and wanting to be her own adored pop star to living in the unwatched, solitary, reality of existing rather than performing left me with a lot to mull over. I love the way Lozada-Oliva's voice jumps off the page in it snarky, self-aware humor and images of everyday life's minutiae. A weird book in the best way.

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whentheresteeth's review

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dark emotional funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

I loved this book, though I knew I would. Melissa Lozada Oliva's poetry has always held a special place in my heart and this book now does too. I'll be forever grateful to her for teaching me about Selena and about girlhood and about poetry. Highly recommend!

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nicoleyelyah's review

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dark funny reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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bookiecharm's review

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3.5


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perpetualpages's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

CWs: some mentions of sex acts; death and mentions of blood; references of animal death, gun violence, and suicide ideation

Melissa Lozada-Oliva is a poet first and foremost, and think that attention to lyricism and word choice is extremely prevalent in this debut verse-novel. That said, Dreaming of You is not your typical verse-novel where the story is highly narrative and then broken up into easily-digestible lines and chapters. There's a risk sometimes that verse-novels can come off as purple prose that's just been divided into lines. But Dreaming of You is non-linear, and erratic, and emotionally confrontational in a way that forces the reader to reckon with the fact that this is undeniably honest-to-god poetry on the page.

Let me zoom out a little bit and say that this is not the book to read if you don’t know anything about Selena. If this book is your first introduction to Selena—as a singer, as a person—then you’ve made mistake. This novel isn't focused on explaining her life, her career, her music, or her legacy. It just sort of assumes you know that as a starting point. I feel like this book is really *for* Latine readers in a very specific ways that non-Latine folks will never understand, because there’s so much collective trauma and also collective joy that we, as a community, have towards Selena, and I think that’s really what the story’s trying to unpack.

With that said, where the verse and where the commentary on Selena really excels is in how the poetry does such a great job of creating space for the reader to project their own thoughts, and feelings, and experiences. Again, the relationship that Latine communities—especially Chicane communities—have with Selena's music is (in some ways) universal, and I think the story allows the reader to tap into their own relationship with Selena while still following the unique narrative of the book. I think the idea of resurrection is also really compelling, because it speaks to how we as consumers are basically dragging Selena back from the dead with every new compilation album, TV adaptation, or documentary so that her artistry—and her trauma—can give meaning and purpose to our own lives.

The potential downside of this novel is that the poetry doesn't always feel connected. I think it would be fair to say that there are times when this feels more like a poetry collection rather than a cohesive story, which could leave some readers feeling stranded or confused. But depending on how you approach this verse-novel, that could also potentially be an upside. I also wasn't sure how much liberty the author was taking with the characterization of historical characters (like Selena herself and Yolanda), so I think that's also something worth reflecting on. With all of that in mind, I still found this verse-novel to be moving, powerful, and deeply cathartic in ways that I can't quiet put into words. But I'm very glad that I got a chance to read it and share space with this story. 

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