Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - Olga Dies Dreaming

This book was filled with complex characters and I didn't really know what to expect going into it. I knew it was about Puerto Rico and a family living in New York but this book was so much more than that.

Olga is a wedding planner for the elite in New York City, while Prieto is a congressman representing Sunset Park. Both of them are trying to make their mom proud but in different ways. I ignorantly have never really thought about Puerto Rico's wants/needs for independence and I really appreciated the perspective, especially with colonialism continuing to be at the forefront of world politics today. Although you could argue Olga's mom's way of living was extreme - you can appreciate her perspective.

Other difficult issues that were addressed in this book are drug abuse, sexuality, & HIV/AIDS. Both Olga and Prieto were in their late 30s still trying to find their true selves away from the weight of their parents.

This book was all about family, purpose, and discovering what truly matters in this world.

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javafenn's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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

5.0

I want to start off by saying the narration is phenomenal! Especially Olga’s. There was so much growth for both Olga and her brother Prieto and the end left you satisfied. The whole book was a roller coaster of emotions and drama. It was great to see a perspective of New York from the eyes of Puerto Ricans. You get a feel for the culture and the familial ties they carry plus the racism and stigma they face as Americans to a foreign land that also happens to be American.

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kdailyreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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solenekeleroux's review

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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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bandysbooks's review

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

This is a story that reflects on a family, politics, and culture. Olga is struggling with relationships, abandonment issues, and figuring out her direction in life.

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jcstokes95's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

This review contains spoilers. CW: Sexual assault

This books suffers from a combination of debut novel syndrome and MFA syndrome. Xochitl Gonzalez is setting her hopes for what to cover very high, but doesn't quite reach what she set out to achieve with total mastery. I think with a great editor this could have been a great book. Gonzalez's line-by-line writing quality is excellent; the first chapter sucked me in. It feels conversational but holds up to the serious subjects later in the book. The clever turns of phrase in the mother's letter felt vicious but realistic to strong writings of a revolutionary. I binged the first third of this. And then the second third hit, and I started realizing there was a real pacing issue.

At some point, it was clear Gonzalez was belaboring the point. The mom's a real asshole. I got that, I don't mind hearing why the children have hope she isn't. But at a certain point it was eyeroll inducing and it was time to move on. The hurricane hasn't showed up yet, and the tension has been building so long that now it feels like there is no tension.

In the third act of the book, the pacing and plot become even more nuts. By this point, it's clear Gonzalez is shoving too many 'issues' in the book: hoarding, emotional abuse, HIV status, suicide, classism, extreme socialist agendas (?), political corruption and more. This issue overload is what I mean by MFA syndrome. Too much without the ability to carry it.

All of this is already happening and then out of left field our author adds in a rape. I cannot decide if the rape is germane to the plot or a strange 'twist' she felt necessary to sustain interest. Because at no point do consequences befall anyone (not just the perpetrator, but the victim seemed unaffected fairly quickly). Olga's boyfriend's response to the rape, by the way, is a cringe inducing complaint about his own feelings of abandonment.

Despite the drag of the middle, the last 50 pages tidies up multiple plot points with some real annoying dei ex machina,

like, 'my boyfriend's rich actually', and 'my blackmailers are too busy to enforce their consequences on me'.

These made me wonder, why did I slog through the middle?

This is not to say I did not enjoy many components of Gonzalez's writing. Like I said, the writing itself is very engaging and clever. She has really mastered creating brilliant characters. Everyone felt real and fully fleshed. The folks I considered villainous had their actions accounted for and she got inside their heads with a sense of empathy that many writers wouldn't. It takes a real talent to have this many characters feel equally real. I would read another one of her books, provided a great editor could help her with the pacing issues and plot overload that held this one back from being a favorite.

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just_one_more_paige's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

Between the eye-catching cover (those colors!) and the ALC I got access to through Libro.fm, I picked up this new release really quickly! Not my normal MO, so cheers to me. Haha. And it was a lucky choice, because this was a page-turner of entertainment and big ideas from start to finish.

Olga and her brother, Prieto, are born-and-raised Brooklynites, and pretty big names around the area now, as Prieto is a popular congressman representing their neighborhood and Olga is a well-known wedding planner for NYC financial elite. Although on the surface, they seem to have everything together, as always, there are cracks beneath the surface. Prieto is hiding a pretty big secret that puts him in a compromising position as far as voting to actually support his constituents and protecting them against gentrifying influence. Olga is struggling to find her own romantic footing, despite it being her job to make others' big relationship dreams come true...though there's a chance that the guy she just met, Matteo, could help her find her own happiness. And both Olga and Prieto are struggling to come to terms with the fact that, when they were still children, their mother, Blanca, left them to be raised by other family members (and a father struggling with addiction) to travel the world leading and supporting militant revolutionary causes. Having stayed in touch only through letters since then, the siblings both face final choices regarding their relationship with her as the dire situation in their homeland of Puerto Rico post-Hurricane Maria leads to some new knowledge about their mothers projects, plans, and the roles she wants her children to play.

This novel is primarily narrated by Olga, with occasional cameos from Prieto, Dick (one of Olga's lovers, that she met through her wedding planning business), and some of the letters Blanca wrote to her children over the years. Overall, it was really authentic writing, the kind that brings each of the characters' separate voices and personalities into life in a way that sparks with energy and personality. There was so much energy in these pages and I loved it. This was, as I said, in part because of the writing. But also, these characters are just straight real. Focusing on Olga and Prieto, because we get the most about them, they are just so genuine in their interactions with other people, their internal thoughts and processes, their strengths and goals, their flaws and questionable decisions, their fears and efforts to please their mother (despite everything). Like, they were so real. Similarly, Matteo and Dick, and even Blanca, have those nuances of character that make them feel real (for one, their "good" outweighs the negatives, for two of them, the deep opposite of that - cw here for sexual assault - but in all cases, tangible in their humanity). That's what made this cush a compelling, page-turning read, for me.

Past that, there was a lot going on in these pages, plot-wise. Gonzalez managed to pair some lighter themes (family drama, romance, etc.) with some much heavier themes (imperialism, gentrification, psychological trauma) in a way that felt balanced just right. I loved Matteo and the way he and Olga interacted. The complex dynamics of big, loud families was on full display in the best way. And I was especially into Olga and Prieto as siblings - I do love a well-written sibling relationship. Plus, the high society settings and wedding planning pieces (as well as everything that happened with Igor and the Russian mob) was just super entertaining. At the same time, there was a fascinating look at the potential harms of dogmatic social activism from an angle one doesn’t normally see: the children of the parents who disappear into the work (and react in different ways in trying to live up to that set standard). And wow, over time, as we see how Blanca communicated with Olga and Prieto over the years, this really morphed into something quite ugly (CW for parental abandonment/psychological trauma/manipulation); the fine line between efforts towards an important/necessary cause and taking things too far is examined in a way I've not seen much of before. Along those same fine lines, Gonzalez takes on an exploration of legality and morals, looking at how people react when the rich/powerful take advantage by influencing policies that support their interests vs how it's perceived when those with less social-financial capital take action in the ways available to them. As examples, Olga fleecing her clients, the Russian mob details, Reggie and Blanca's decisions/action, Matteo’s local real estate reinvestments, the "development" lobbying from Dick and the Selby brothers, present a number of perspectives on a fascinating continuum.

Finally, there is so much in these pages about Puerto Rico, the way love for the country and a hope for a better future for it can take so many different forms/routes. There's also a dive into the history of colonialism/imperialism, and revolutionaries, in the country, and the way it's led it to a completely untenable (for the people) position today. Gonzalez highlights and calls out the hypocrisy of PR being a part of the US in a way that benefits the powerful, yet not enough to warrant real support for people who need it (thrown into stark relief by Hurricane Maria disaster "relief" ). And phew, the little bit of speculative fiction at the end, a sooth-saying about what the future could be if we continue to show how little we value the lives and livelihoods of the PR people, is a warning that should be noted for real. Overall, this aspect of the story (along with one side plot issue related to Prieto's personal life, that added some depth to his character and story that I really appreciated) got quite intense by the end, with some serious tension-build, and though it all wrapped up with a general hopeful vibe, I was definitely clenching my teeth there for a few chapters.

I was totally engrossed in this novel from start to finish (and the cast-narration of the audiobook was spot on). Though I felt like there were maybe a few loose ends narratively, the major aspects were all wrapped up. Olga’s voice and embodiment were fantastic and I really enjoyed the unique mix of romance, girl-in-the-big-city, social justice realistic fiction, romance, and drama/thriller, and the fresh start vibe we were left with at the end. If you are looking for a quality entertainment read with a bit of depth, this book is it.

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