A review by skoppelkam
Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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

4.0

So glad I finally picked this up and that my library hold came through just in time to crush this book while on vacation. Olga Dies Dreaming is a searing examination of the costs of wealth and material comfort at a time (re: today) when settler-colonialism is alive and well. González crafts characters who are complex, wounded, and flawed, whose stories she uses to examine Puerto Rican liberation and the abuse of Puerto Rico by the American government. A premise wherein all the characters are fucked up doesn't always work for me, but González breathes enough life and humanity into characters like Olga and Prieto (though perhaps not their mother) that we want them to survive and thrive even through their fuckery. I left this novel realizing how much I still need to learn about PR, and also thinking deeply about the complexities created by diaspora.