Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez

83 reviews

adlane22's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Sexual assault and Suicide

Minor: Drug abuse

lizziaha's review against another edition

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

Lately, I feel like I’ve been reading a lot of books about secrets. This one does that in a particularly gut-wrenching way. The way that Gonzalez let’s the reader sit with information, then draw their own conclusions about the characters motivations invited a more interactive experience for me. Gosh I really do love flawed characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Racism, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Addiction, Genocide, Rape, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Homophobia

Minor: Abortion, Bullying, Deportation, and Infertility

quirkydrinkerofink's review

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Racism, Suicide, Rape, Abandonment, War, and Emotional abuse

heather_palmer's review

1.0

I wanted to love Olga Dies Dreaming, but was sadly disappointed. 

This was a very ambitious book that proposed to tackle a lot of important themes and issues, but it fell short in its execution. There was too much going on with no real time spent fleshing out these different elements. Due to this, the book felt crowded. The readers were not given enough time and space within the novel to successfully cover everything the author wanted to explore in her narrative or to really connect with it. Leaving me let down by the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, and Abandonment

Moderate: Grief, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Death, Death of parent, and Suicide

Minor: Abortion and Infertility

alainajreads's review

emotional reflective medium-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

4.0

I found myself going back and forth on my rating, based on factors of how well it was executed, how connected I felt to the characters, and my own enjoyment of it. This book attempted to tackle a lot and it already had so many important themes packed into it, from gentrification and capitalism, colonialism, family and parental abandonment, HIV/AIDS, sexual assault, Hurricane Maria and the US government’s mishandling of the disaster, and Latino identity. The genre jumped between a family drama, a political thriller, and a romance. 

I will say that Olga Dies Dreaming was very well-written, and Gonzalez’s writing style caught my attention from the first chapter. I was really drawn into Olga and Prieto’s story and the complexity of their characters and the relationship between the siblings, their absent mother, and the rest of their family. I enjoyed Olga’s relationship with Matteo and learning to let herself trust after her abandonment issues and develop as a character (and call out the 45th President live on TV- we love to see it!) was satisfying. It was refreshing to read about a 40 year old protagonist finding love.

The last part of the book did feel rushed, with so many plot points wrapped into the last third of the book, and after seeing other reviews I agree with the sentiment that while Xochitl Gonzalez was ambitious in trying to cover so much background and Puerto Rican history in under 400 pages, the risk might not have paid off and left an incomplete narrative. However, I did listen to the audiobook and the narrators did a good job telling the story from different perspectives (with one scene toward the end was very hard to listen to). Olga Dies Dreaming attempted to cover a lot of ground, to varying degrees of success, in an overall impactful read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Abandonment, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Suicide, Drug abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Outing, Colonisation, and Homophobia

franklola's review

dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Classism, Drug use, War, Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Addiction, Colonisation, Sexual violence, Suicide, Gaslighting, and Grief

ecn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Death, Abandonment, Racism, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Grief, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Suicide, Sexual violence, and Addiction

crystalleighwrites's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Colonisation, Addiction, Classism, Abandonment, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Homophobia

Moderate: Rape, Racism, Suicide, and Outing

Minor: Abortion and Outing

tanyawinanto's review

challenging informative tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicide, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Colonisation, and War

simplybibliophiles's review

adventurous emotional reflective medium-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

4.0

This book reads like a dream. Gonzalez's witty, descriptive, and metaphorical prose gives so much natural intrigue to a story with an underlying heavy subject matter. 

 

Even though there is a romance element to this book, I would not consider this a romance. This is contemporary literary fiction. If you are going into this believing it to be a romance - you will be disappointed. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Drug use, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Suicide, Death, and Rape

This book includes a depiction of HIV contraction and detection, as well as detailed descriptions of the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.