Reviews with content warning for Chronic illness - 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!

Content Warnings

gracescanlon's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful 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? N/A

4.5

Content Warnings

annreadsabook's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I came into this book with pretty high expectations but finished feeling a bit disappointed. I think that, with a bit of a cleaner execution, I definitely would’ve liked this more. I felt that there was too much heavy-handed exposition; backgrounds of facts and characters would go on for paragraphs to the point where it felt a bit like a slog. At one point, Matteo explains to Olga—a Brooklyn-born woman of Puerto Rican descent (whose own mother WAS a Young Lord)— who/what the Young Lords were. Additionally, there were a couple plot points towards the second half of the book that felt as though they were thoughtlessly cast into the novel in—I struggled to see the need for inserting them and it, in my opinion, muddled the book’s overall delivery. I just felt that the narration needed a bit of cleanup and some better flow.

On the positive side, I did enjoy walking through NYC with Olga and experiencing its sights and sounds as she contends with gentrification, government neglect of PR, and the ups and downs of finding love as someone in her early forties.

Content Warnings

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

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becdeluna's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious 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

This beautiful book talked about so many of the different facets of Latine culture in the USA. From history, to neocolonialism and defining an ever changing culture Gonzalez captured it all with nuance.

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