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kylasmv15's review
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death of parent, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Racism, Racial slurs, Emotional abuse, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Suicide, Death, and Infertility
Minor: Abortion and Rape
mmccombs's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.5
I liked this story but was less into its structure. Olga and Prieto are captivating characters in their own right, even more so in relationship with each other. Their mother is an even more interesting character, a kind of looming figure over all of the action that takes place. However, something about the writing didn’t really work for me. It was a lot of reflective, past tense “telling” of each character’s history while the present-day action was taking place, so it felt like I was being absolutely flooded with information. So much happening all at once with not a lot of room to do it! I also found the switches in POV kind of strange, like it seemed to mostly follow Olga but then Prieto and Dick also had some chapters. It would have been more effective for me if we were just following Olga or if we alternated with Prieto in equal parts. I still thought the story was worth reading, but I don’t think it was the most tight, well organized book I’ve ever read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Abandonment, and Death of parent
Moderate: Homophobia and Sexual harassment
redwrapped's review
emotional
funny
reflective
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
5.0
This is one of the books that I can see being touted as a strong contender for awards honoring the American experience and for best debut novel, and rightfully so, due to the breadth of unflinching honesty woven throughout Olga Dies Dreaming.
Olga Acevedo is an American woman facing the internal struggle that so many feel, to be seen as she sees herself, yet Olga isn't necessarily sure of who she is or to whom her loyalty is strongest. She has lived her entire life in Brooklyn and feels American, but her family hails from Puerto Rico. She feels alienated by the rich, white WASP clientele she serves as an elite wedding planner, and is crucially separated by distance and emotional warmth toward her mother.
Her mother, Blanca, left Olga, her brother Prieto, and their father behind in Brooklyn to try to embolden and free Puerto Rico from the United States through revolutionary action, becoming a fugitive for terroristic ties and disappearing entirely except for barbed, critical letters sent to her family members, guiding them what to do. Blanca's dedication to the cause is stronger than to her children or her marriage.
The theme circulates around love and all the complexities of it: love for your country, love for family, love for life, and love for someone new. Despite how heavy and political it can be, the tone is never cynical, but made up of hope and resilience, and that adds a tender sort of strength to each of the love stories in here.
While reading this, I was compelled to read about the history of Puerto Rican resistance and mainland America's lack of aid or respect toward the archipelago. My viewpoint toward statehood or the United States relinquishing control over Puerto Rico has been altered, due to the compelling argument in this book and for the fact it drove me to independently research the toll and fundamental inadequacies that Puerto Rico faces due to its indeterminate status as a territory and not as a state with the level of protective measures for emergency aid as another state would have, usage of natural resources for electricity, etc.
Thanks to Flatiron Books and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Olga Acevedo is an American woman facing the internal struggle that so many feel, to be seen as she sees herself, yet Olga isn't necessarily sure of who she is or to whom her loyalty is strongest. She has lived her entire life in Brooklyn and feels American, but her family hails from Puerto Rico. She feels alienated by the rich, white WASP clientele she serves as an elite wedding planner, and is crucially separated by distance and emotional warmth toward her mother.
Her mother, Blanca, left Olga, her brother Prieto, and their father behind in Brooklyn to try to embolden and free Puerto Rico from the United States through revolutionary action, becoming a fugitive for terroristic ties and disappearing entirely except for barbed, critical letters sent to her family members, guiding them what to do. Blanca's dedication to the cause is stronger than to her children or her marriage.
The theme circulates around love and all the complexities of it: love for your country, love for family, love for life, and love for someone new. Despite how heavy and political it can be, the tone is never cynical, but made up of hope and resilience, and that adds a tender sort of strength to each of the love stories in here.
While reading this, I was compelled to read about the history of Puerto Rican resistance and mainland America's lack of aid or respect toward the archipelago. My viewpoint toward statehood or the United States relinquishing control over Puerto Rico has been altered, due to the compelling argument in this book and for the fact it drove me to independently research the toll and fundamental inadequacies that Puerto Rico faces due to its indeterminate status as a territory and not as a state with the level of protective measures for emergency aid as another state would have, usage of natural resources for electricity, etc.
Thanks to Flatiron Books and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Cancer, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexism, Homophobia, Gaslighting, and Drug abuse
2treads's review
challenging
funny
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
With the purse comes the strings' - Olga
Gonzalez has written an utterly entertaining contemporary novel, filled with snark, snappy dialogue and recollections, interesting characters and interactions, while also managing to speak to social, familial, intimate and racial issues.
Olga is savvy and her ambitions keep her pushing, she will tweak a process here and appropriate some napkins there. All in the fairness of turning a profit.
The absent presence of Olga's mother is so strong that her revolutionary and socialist ideals and beliefs are felt through her letters and in the ways we see Olga respond to and conduct herself in the rich circles in which she has fought to climb into.
The more we glean from letters written by their mother helps the reader to question the deeper, concerning ideals still being held so close to heart by our main characters. Olga searches for her worth through the attention and patronage from the rich for whom she creates lavish weddings and other events, to her brother, an educated and intelligent congressman who holds harmful internalised views on sexuality and identity. Which is worrying with respect to what felt like a glossing over of the queer presence within the narrative.
Although the revolutionary passion of Olga's mother is appreciated, how she decides to show support to her kids is worrying. She berates Olga for following her dreams, yet encourages Prieto to not let family or familial obligation keeping him from his aspirations. To me that read of an inherent bend towards boosting a son more than a daughter. But this is all an agenda to utilise for her own means.
Gonzalez has written an utterly entertaining contemporary novel, filled with snark, snappy dialogue and recollections, interesting characters and interactions, while also managing to speak to social, familial, intimate and racial issues.
Olga is savvy and her ambitions keep her pushing, she will tweak a process here and appropriate some napkins there. All in the fairness of turning a profit.
The absent presence of Olga's mother is so strong that her revolutionary and socialist ideals and beliefs are felt through her letters and in the ways we see Olga respond to and conduct herself in the rich circles in which she has fought to climb into.
The more we glean from letters written by their mother helps the reader to question the deeper, concerning ideals still being held so close to heart by our main characters. Olga searches for her worth through the attention and patronage from the rich for whom she creates lavish weddings and other events, to her brother, an educated and intelligent congressman who holds harmful internalised views on sexuality and identity. Which is worrying with respect to what felt like a glossing over of the queer presence within the narrative.
Although the revolutionary passion of Olga's mother is appreciated, how she decides to show support to her kids is worrying. She berates Olga for following her dreams, yet encourages Prieto to not let family or familial obligation keeping him from his aspirations. To me that read of an inherent bend towards boosting a son more than a daughter. But this is all an agenda to utilise for her own means.
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape and Sexual harassment
armontheroad's review
challenging
dark
emotional
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? Yes
5.0
I was given an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
CWs: Suicide, homophobia, gentrification, racism, transphobic language, child abandonment, sexual harassment, a parent with drug addiction, AIDs, a parent with Alzheimer’s, fatphobia, hurricane Maria, toxic/manipulative relationship, domestic abuse, rape, bombing, etc.
Overall: I am very grateful to NetGalley for providing me with this brilliantly done audiobook. The narration was excellently done! Xochitl Gonzalez created such realistic characters, I had to remind myself this was in fact fiction. Going into this, I assumed it was Young Adult but I am so glad that this is Adult! Such great discussions: morals, politics, sexuality, bodily autonomy, dealing with childhood trauma from your past, etc. A lot of these characters, their thoughts, their mannerisms, remind me so deeply of people in my own Latine family/our community. Gonzalez shows how much we deal with from non-Latine people, but also, from people within our own community. There are lots of conversations about how Latine people can say we love our family but are not accepting of them being queer/different than their expectations of us.
Queer rep: I do wish that the queer rep was handled a bit differently. There’s not one queer person in this book that is just content with their queerness. The opening of the book is a queer man killing himself because he tests positive for HIV. He was in an open relationship with his partner who reacts…. Strangely to his death. It rubbed me the wrong way as a queer man. We follow two siblings whose father dies from AIDs. Then the brother also gets scared he has HIV for being a closeted gay man and it’s an entire plotline. The queer rep was just… not my favorite. Also, you can see Gonzalez trying hard to be inclusive and uplighting of queer people. Trans people are mentioned, once very briefly, HOWEVER, the language in this book is (I believe unintentionally) very transphobic. You cannot say you stand with trans people and then call it “women’s reproductive health” or call men “males”. Just be mindful if you’re trying to have conversations about supporting queer people from all walks of life. As a Latine trans reader, there were tons of times where I was highly uncomfortable reading what Gonzalez had written because it was transphobic rhetoric. I am positive that was not her intention, but that is how it, unfortunately, came across.
Final thoughts: Not going to lie, about halfway through I contemplated DNFing this audiobook. Now that I have actually gone back and listened to the entire novel, I’m so glad I didn’t DNF. This novel has the same vibes as DETRANSITION, BABY with its handling of really hard topics. Just like my thoughts of DETRANSITION, BABY, I believe OLGA DIES DREAMING is a hard read but completely worth it. This is not a fun, lighthearted Latine book to clap yourself on the back for reading diversely. This delves deeply into our community, and honestly, deeply into the world as a whole. I would highly recommend, just keep the Content Warnings in mind before reading!!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide, Homophobia, Transphobia, Racism, Sexual harassment, Rape, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Outing, Infertility, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Addiction, and Abandonment
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