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livrs's review
1.0
i am a v v big fan of selena, so when i saw this book was coming out and it was about selena, i had to get it. when i was reading it, however, selena wasn’t the biggest part of the novel, which is fine, but felt like false advertising. on top of that, the novel seemed really disrespectful towards selena. i still can’t get over how a line in the book said ‘yea it sucks she died, but what if she went on to like a pro-life tweet.’ like are you fucking kidding?! i really did not like this book at all. do not recommend. instead, read to selena, with love by selena’s husband, chris pérez
inthebelljar's review against another edition
3.0
ARC received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is a very weird title and that isn't necessarily a bad thing; the strangeness is part of what I enjoyed. Dreaming of You is a novel told in verse about a woman resurrecting Selena and the strangeness and problems that follow. I loved the eerie-ness of this, the strange off-ness that comes with an undead celebrity running around and starting another tour and I think Lozada-Oliva's conversational and almost rambling style lends well to these confessional-style poems. Although this is a very surreal story, the themes are very much grounded in reality - loneliness, pop culture icon worship, death, womanhood, identity , etc. Despite the premise, this story isn't *really* about Selena as much as she's used as a vehicle for exploring these topics.
Despite the conversational style, I did get lost a few times - a few times I was wondering, is this Melissa's perspective or Yolanda's? Is this happening now or is this hypothetical? Sometimes I didn't mind so much, it's surreal and bordering reality and fantasy anyway and I was focused on the feelings more than anything but other times I felt too lost to get into it. There were some individual poems I did *really* like on their own and I think I would have almost liked a thematically linked but not a novel in verse collection from this author? I definitely want to try more of her work even if this didn't quite work for me, but I wouldn't necessarily not recommend this either. It's a shorter work and if you're in the mood for something strange exploring loneliness and pop culture and identity, I'd say give it a try.
This is a very weird title and that isn't necessarily a bad thing; the strangeness is part of what I enjoyed. Dreaming of You is a novel told in verse about a woman resurrecting Selena and the strangeness and problems that follow. I loved the eerie-ness of this, the strange off-ness that comes with an undead celebrity running around and starting another tour and I think Lozada-Oliva's conversational and almost rambling style lends well to these confessional-style poems. Although this is a very surreal story, the themes are very much grounded in reality - loneliness, pop culture icon worship, death, womanhood, identity , etc. Despite the premise, this story isn't *really* about Selena as much as she's used as a vehicle for exploring these topics.
Despite the conversational style, I did get lost a few times - a few times I was wondering, is this Melissa's perspective or Yolanda's? Is this happening now or is this hypothetical? Sometimes I didn't mind so much, it's surreal and bordering reality and fantasy anyway and I was focused on the feelings more than anything but other times I felt too lost to get into it. There were some individual poems I did *really* like on their own and I think I would have almost liked a thematically linked but not a novel in verse collection from this author? I definitely want to try more of her work even if this didn't quite work for me, but I wouldn't necessarily not recommend this either. It's a shorter work and if you're in the mood for something strange exploring loneliness and pop culture and identity, I'd say give it a try.
thelittlelibrarian's review
It’s not bad I’m just not finding myself wanting to continue. Just not the book for me in this moment
dollikai's review
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
combito's review
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
vamaya's review
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
interruptinggirljoke's review
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
pamslibros's review
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25