Reviews with content warning for Medical content - Olga Dies Dreaming

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Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez

8 reviews

veskumelooni's review against another edition

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challenging emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

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emotional 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

Love getting to know the characters. They’re all flawed and complex, Olga especially isn’t always likeable but that’s what made her interesting!

The book is character driven and told through third person POVs, switching mainly between Prieto and Olga. We do also get some other character POVs plus letters between the two MCs and their mother. The character development was very well done, they felt so believable and multi dimensional watching them grow! I also enjoyed the writing style, making it feel like I was at the weddings and in the Hamptons or New York City.

Mainly a story about family, grief, American dream, corruption, colonialism, and how people pleasing/constantly seeking validation from outside sources can affect you. I really related to how both Olga and Prieto feel the need to do what makes everyone else happy or proud of them, and in the process losing yourself and your own sense of fulfillment!

There was one moment of telling over showing moment that really rubbed me the wrong way 🫣 We are 300 pages into the book and without spoiling/full context-It read like the first paragraph of a first page the way it presented a “revelation” like I’m not an idiot, I know Olga is his sister you don’t have to say “Olga his sister” this far into the novel.

It didn’t affect my rating though because overall this was such a beautiful exploration of family dynamics and expectations! I didn’t want to put the book down and it’s an extraordinary debut novel, so I can’t wait to read Gonzalez’s next book.

TW/CW: abandonment, death of parent, cancer, racism and racial micro aggressions, homophobia, AIDS, drug abuse, addiction, emotional abuse, sexual assault, infertility

Rep: Puerto Rican MCs, biracial (white&Black) and Jewish side character, Afro-Latino side character, Gay characters, Latina author, positive disability rep (specifically HIV)

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zxnaida's review

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
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

I have been putting off writing this review for a while because I feel conflicted about my rating. Olga Dies Dreaming starts off strong, with chapters alternating POVs of two main characters, and letters from a secondary character also serving as another POV. The characters felt real and personable. I enjoyed how I went back and forth with really disliking some of the characters and yet still rooting for them. However, some plot points felt sort of just thrown in there with no relevance. This bugged me. With all these things considered, I would rate it a 4. However, there is a scene towards the end of the book that seemed very unnecessary, and it really threw me off, and I don’t feel like it’s a 4 anymore, it’s more of a 3.5 to me, I think. I plan to read Xochitl Gonzalez’s next book which is set to release this year.

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candaceallison's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative tense 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

3.0

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remytherat's review against another edition

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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

3.5

I really loved Olga's character arc; by the end of the book I was cheering for a character that had been pretty unloveable at the start. Dick was also a great villain. Smarmy, guileless and full of all the arrogance that comes with a lifetime of privilege, he was as irritating as you'd expect. While he wasn't at all loveable, that wasn't the point of him; and anyway, there were enough characters who I loved right away to make up for it.

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kwurtzel3's review against another edition

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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

5.0

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emudds's review against another edition

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hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

i ... don't think i liked this? i wanted to, and at first i thought i did since i think the writing is very well done at first, and i certainly learned a lot about Puerto Rican history which I'm very thankful for. but it conveys those messages in very clunky dialogue that took me out of the book, and the direction they took with the mom's plotline/letter writing was a bit unexpected and seemed to paint the entire movement in a negative light.

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just_one_more_paige's review against another edition

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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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