Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - Olga Dies Dreaming

Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez

25 reviews

thebookwormkatie's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Content Warnings

siobhanward's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional 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

3.0

This book had so much potential and it felt like it felt short in a lot of ways. While parts of the book dragged, the ending felt rushed, which meant that the protagonists did not get a real wrap-up that made sense with the story. I understand a lot of Olga and Prieto's motivations for why they did what they did, but it didn't necessarily make it better. A look into the US government's failure in responding to Hurricane Maria's devastation of Puerto Rico from the POV of two Puerto Ricans in mainland America was interesting, but it just didn't feel like it was executed as well as it could have been.

Content Warnings

kelly_e's review

Go to review page

challenging emotional informative 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

4.0

Title: Olga Dies Dreaming
Author: Xóchitl González
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 4.00
Pub Date: January 4, 2022

T H R E E • W O R D S

Layered • Messy • Dynamic

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Brooklyn, 2017

Olga is a successful wedding planner for Manhattan's elite, despite employing some questionable business practices. Her brother, Prieto, is a Congressman representing their gentrifying Latinx neighborhood, and with many secrets of his own.

Despite alluring public lives, the effects of their mother's sudden departure to advance a militant political cause twenty-seven years earlier continues to impact their lives in so many ways. In the wake of Hurricane Maria, the most devastating hurricane in Puerto Rico's history, they will come to understand their Puerto Rican heritage and challenge everything they know and feel when their mother comes barreling back into their lives.

Olga Dies Dreaming is a story that examines political corruption, familial strife and the very notion of the American dream--all while asking what it really means to weather a storm.

💭 T H O U G H T S

Olga Dies Dreaming fell into my hands while I was attempting to complete an A-Z author challenge this year. I must say I was pleasantly surprised by this complex and layered debut novel, which combines romance, political strife, and family drama.

From the beautifully written first chapter, I instantly knew the propulsive writing style was going to grip me and take me on a messy ride into family dynamics with these flawed and fully developed characters. Not only was I transported into the novel, but I came away having learned about Puerto Rican history. There is no denying that the writing is the heart of this book weaving together a complex multigeneration history of both family and country. It demonstrates how childhood trauma continues to wreck havoc on personal development when our emotions aren't processed.

And while I enjoyed my time with this book, the ending was a little too tidy, especially considering how messy the plot was. It was an ending that felt unrealistic and a little rushed, which definitely took away from the whole experience.

Olga Dies Dreaming unpacks a lot, but overall I was pleasantly surprised by this beautiful debut novel. If you're looking for a lighthearted millennial story, this isn't the book for you. As a reader you must be ready to get messy with Olga and her brother. I cannot wait to see what Xóchitl González has on the horizon.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• fans of the family saga
• readers look for a LGBTQIA+ Story
• bookclubs

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"You must remember, mijo, even people who were once your sails can become your anchors."

"It’s dangerous at your young age to be surrounded by people who don’t value who you are. Who don’t understand you. A child can become lost."

"Women are born with barometers in our belly that make us more sensitive to the climate around us and because we're so often on the lowers rung of any ladder, we're naturally inclined to look out for the least among us."

Content Warnings

laurensilva's review

Go to review page

emotional tense 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

The jacket synopsis does the book a disservice by trying to tie it into a clean, straightforward plot line. Olga Dies Dreaming accomplishes much more than that, thanks of course to Xochitl Gonzalez's broad imagination and skillful writing from the heart.

There is a story progression from start to finish, but it's hardly the main point of the book. Rather, the characters' development, their relationships with themselves and with others, is the true focal point. We are along for the ride as each main character grapples with the "facts" of their pasts and how those have informed their entire lives. Gonzalez explores identity deeply, through chapters written in varying character viewpoints; not just how a person sees themselves, but how other people see them, their circumstances, how those identities came to be, and how those varying identities conflict with each other. So often, there is no one identity, no one right answer, especially when it comes to heritage.

For example, late in the book, Prieto

comes to the realization that swooping into post-Maria Puerto Rico as a well-to-do congressman is not entirely different from other privileged Americans flying in to distribute supplies then returning to their own comfortable homes, even though he is of Puerto Rican descent. This (among other things) is partially why Blanca, his mother, bans him from the island and rejects him as a puertorriqueño. But he knows, and we know, that despite her importance on the island, she cannot take that identity, heritage, and "cultural inheritance" away from him.

I also loved how towards the end, there is a massive reckoning within the Ortiz/Acevedo family about Blanca, exposing how she and her letters to the family were extremely manipulative and emotionally abusive. Her words had cemented Olga's and Prieto's (and our) convictions about themselves, each other and the rest of the world, only to find that once they stepped outside of Blanca's manipulated world, there was much more to see and learn than her narrow view. Nothing is ever so simple as one person's viewpoint being the one correct answer.

Content Warnings

seawarrior's review

Go to review page

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-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

4.0

This was a highly engaging book that I enjoyed reading, despite the fact that it was long and the characters often behaved in ways that were protective to the point of destructive. I felt that Gonzalez did a wonderful job of illustrating how family conflicts extend outwards and create even more troubles in the wider world. Yet, she ensured each character was written with enough tact that the messages in this book rarely came off as preachy. While the book did feel somewhat melodramatic at times, the reader is prepared with understanding for why the situations the characters are in have become so severe. I would be wary about recommending this book to others since some of the subject matter is distressing. However, I don't regret reading it myself or feeling invested in the characters' lives.

Content Warnings