Reviews with content warning for Infertility - Olga Dies Dreaming

I’m having a very hard time rating this book.
Overall the writing was excellent, especially at the beginning. I loved the first half of this book. The organization of the book was engaging with the multiple POVs and the letters interspersed. I was invested in the characters and loved all their interactions especially as the book grappled with the theme of identity.
But as the book went on,

the turning point was after Mabel’s wedding

I started to feel like the author was taking the easy way out. A lot of the conclusions just felt simple and almost unnecessary based on the book up to that point.

I really disliked Preito’s coming out story. It felt like his positive HIV status served only as a purpose for him to come out. Same with the SA, it was an easy way to write Olga’s “breakdown” and that part of the narrative could have been driven in another way.

Finally, two things that are personal pet peeves that this book hit were books that have chapter titles but no table of contents and books with pointless epilogues. Ugh.

I will add that the audiobook narration was 10/10. The multiple narrators and the way they spoke carried so much of the attitude of each of the characters. Would highly recommend that format for anyone looking to read this!

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mschmidt's review against another edition

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5.0

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formerbookclubpresident's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring reflective 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

This book...*sigh* THIS BOOK.

This book is great. I really enjoyed it, and really appreciated how the author captured the Nuyorican experience, and at parts even made me cry thinking about my own relationship to Puerto Rico as a mainlander. The struggle of not being enough for either country and culture but still carrying them both proudly could not be better described if she tried. The picture of gentrification that she paints is so real and vivid, and given the author's background you can tell this isn't fiction, she's writing from her own experience.

While I really enjoyed the book, there are a few flaws that I find really hard to get over. Like some other reviewers have mentioned, Prieto

contracting HIV

just felt cruel and unnecessary and didn't drive his character forward, and felt like a

push to get him to come out when that could have been achieved a million different ways

.

The chapter with

Dick SA'ing Olga also

felt very unnecessary. There were a million ways Olga could've "failed" her mission with Dick and this was not needed. At. All. Also just

casually mentioning how many times she's been SA'd in the past???

Triggering.

Finally, Blanca. As a Puerto Rican person myself, the topic of Puerto Rican liberation (like all political topics) requires nuance. It is something that needs to be presented very carefully in order to make the case for liberation (which I felt like the author was for?? and then switched up at the end of the book???) Blanca's portrayal as a villain, who cares about nothing but Puerto Rican liberation hurts the cause for mainlanders/outsiders trying to understand it. It is now painted as some rebel group

(and the bombing??? bffr)

. I wish that they had made Blanca questionable, and not outright a villain. It would've humanized her in a way that would make readers sympathize with her and not root against her.

Lastly (and this is my own personal gripe) I wish the author had included a reading list at the end of the book. The novel touches upon so much Puerto Rican history that I would have loved to continue learning about, but because I got it from the library, I don't have the book to go back and look for references to find supplemental materials on.

Overall, I really liked this book and can't wait to read what the other does next. Pa'lante!

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geekywoman14's review against another edition

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emotional 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? It's complicated

3.5

It's a good book for a family drama read with a bit of cultural and political history intertwined.

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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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