Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Olga Dies Dreaming

This was a fantastically written story. I highly recommend the audio book. It’s a full cast & is just really well done.
This book just reinforces my identity of enjoying mundane books. When I say that, it doesn’t mean this story doesn’t have a lot of intrigue and/or value. In contrary, I think this is an incredibly important life perspective for people to read from. What I mean by mundane is that there is nothing “fantastical” or “surprising”. It’s just people living life full of struggle, love, heartbreak, happiness & all of life’s other complexities.
This story tells the story of a Puerto Rican American family growing up with split identity & the struggle that comes with that.
It’s very raw & real, but also funny & lighthearted at times.
So glad it was picked for my book club because I hadn’t heard of it before then.
10/10 recommend

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elenareadz's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring 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

4.0

While this book delves into a complicated family, I was struck by the idea of how much I disagreed with the decisions the characters were making, but I still couldn’t put the book down. Both Olga and her brother Prieto try to find their identities on the backdrop of two activist parents who left them to figure out the world on their own. While simultaneously rooting for them to get better, you’re shaking your head at their decisions, but as more of the book goes on, you realize why they look at the world in the way they do. I genuinely learned so much about Puerto Rico’s history, culture, and overall activist groups and activities.

And Dick was aptly named. As much as I hated him, getting his personal thoughts in the changing PoV was extremely enlightening. Here’s a rich white man who doesn’t necessarily hold hate, at his core is deep indifference and care to anyone who isn’t him. As hard as it was reading his chapters, it showed that at their core, rich white individuals truly do not see what is wrong with their actions, their thoughts, or their beliefs because they absolutely never have to think outside of themselves.

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grace_b_3's review against another edition

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I ran out time with this one, as it was due back to the library. I was interested in the story, but the writing style, while not terrible, was not really for me. I’d be more likely to watch an adaptation than pick this up again.

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laurenwerlinger's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.5

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alphlia's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring 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

5.0

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ashwaar's review

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challenging emotional 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

It took me months to finish reading this book! When I began it was very strong and I loved the sharpness of the writing but near the end, I thought it was floundering around. It became a bit over-the-top and dramatic for me but I do think that overall it’s a really strong character story on family, community, trauma, and gentrification.

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