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ceeelizabethreads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
There were some great lines in this, but it took me 40 days to read. I just bought the authors newest novel and I’m looking forward to reading a full length prose book by her.
angiesreading's review against another edition
lol this did not work at all for me
nopalitoreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
crrybbycancerr's review against another edition
2.0
Parts of it I resonated with like when she as an adult bought herself a Selena doll because it was the first doll that was the same skin color as her. And how so many young brown girls wouldn’t see a doll or have a doll that looked like them until they were grown ups. That part of it I really resonated with. There are verses and hidden gems throughout the story but it was a little hard to follow for me I just don’t think I’m a poetry girly.
cara_ready's review against another edition
3.0
I loved the entire concept of this book and it was a good spooky read. It will probably be one I have to reread before I have a fully formed opinion on it but I found it beautiful and some passages very relatable.
livrs's review against another edition
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 against another edition
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 against another edition
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