I bet I am not the only one who never read a book inspired by Puerto Rico´s social and political recent history. The brilliantly written debut novel by Xochitl Gonzalez - herself from a family with its own story of militantism - Olga Dies Dreaming is my first introduction to a topic which remains of actuality.

Olga and her brother, Prieto, are case story of successful American dream: an unnamed Ivy League graduate, she is a successful wedding planner, the ´Puerto Rican Martha Stewart´. Her brother is a local politician. But there are cracks into the picture perfect dream: Olga struggles with relationships and somehow got involved in a money laundering scheme of the Russian mafia. Prieto is divorced, gay in the closet and about to come out and recently HIV positive, blackmail by greedy real estate developers (hopefully not all real estate developers are sharks and there is a character in the book who may prove otherwise). Their mother, Blanca, left them when they were children to fight for the independence of Puerto Rico and keeps sending them self-righteous letters written in a revolutionary vein. Their father was a Vietnam war veteran who died of AIDS.

An outstanding feature of the book is the relatively balanced representation of the characters. They are multi-dimensional, complex, changing their mind during the story, making choices. They think and reflect.

The book may be considered as a literary application of the intersectionalist theory. Although in non-fiction such an approach may be very useful in understanding better the multiplicity of layers of a topic, in literature it raises significant challenges. The nastiest risk is to end up turning a narrative into an ideologically centered piece of work, to turn the story automatically biased and therefore, beyond the good and evil of creativity.

For instance, at the very beginning of the story, Olga has an inner monologue about beautiful wedding napkins as a status and class and money symbol. The idea is not bad, but it sounds very propagandistic and although capitalism is not (always) great, there are ways to show it without such an intermezzo. Also, the mother´s letters although they make sense as discourses, they are like copy pasted from some boring manifesto and sounds like a robot.

Such story switches from fiction to nonfictional messages do damage the story in my opinion and belittle the literary potential. Featuring gently ideological struggles in literature is not an easy task though and forcing up either a direction (literary) or another (ideologically) is easier than trying to keep a right balance between the two. The Patriots does it admirably and as for now, remains my favorite books featuring revolutionary mothers.

Olga Dies Dreaming is an interesting literary experiment and the prose as the strory construction promise - hopefully - future better books by Xochitl Gonzalez. The characters particularly are very dense and the dynamic between them is well pondered. Particularly the relationship between Olga and her brother are very special and one of the things I loved the most about this book.

A vibrant read about Olgas life as a Puerto Rican in NYC. This story deals with quite a bit- Olga’s career, love life, politics, and family drama. I loved learning about Puerto Rico’s history and appreciated the real life references the author made. The references personally helped me tie everything together. Olga gives off strong independent woman vibes and I was here for it. I did think there were a few chapters that dragged on, but overall I really enjoyed this one! 🧡

OLGA DIES DREAMING was not at all what I expected and yet it was exactly what I needed in the moment. I felt so close to all of these characters by the end of the book and really enjoyed spending time with them. This book stuck with me, despite a slow start, and I'll definitely be recommending it on social media soon!

Olga Dies Dreaming follows Olga and her brother Pedro Prieto Acevedo, siblings whose mother was a Young Lord-turned-radical who chose to abandon them to fight for liberation of her country. Olga is a well established wedding planner for rich people while Prieto represents their gentrifying Latinx neighborhood as a congressman. The story covers a lot of Puerto Rican history which I also happen to learn through it, Not just one's own heritage and identity this also explored the effects of abandonment by a parent had and shaped both the siblings and more.
Quite a stellar debut novel and writing which left me very very impressed and intrigued. Will definitely be looking out for more from the author.
Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for giving the eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

I received a digital copy of "Olga Dies Dreaming" from Net Galley via the author and Flatiron Books publishing company. This review is my own thoughts and opinions regarding this debut.

A blazing talent debuts with the tale of a status-driven wedding planner grappling with her social ambitions, absent mother, and Puerto Rican roots—all in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Set against the backdrop of New York City in the months surrounding the most devastating hurricane in Puerto Rico’s history, Xochitl Gonzalez’s Olga Dies Dreaming is a story that examines political corruption, familial strife, and the very notion of the American dream—all while asking what it really means to weather a storm.

I really wanted to love this book. The description held so much promise for this book to be more captivating than it was. As much as I wanted to love this book, it was a struggle. While I did like the main characters for the most part, I found some of their decisions lacking any sense of intelligence for two adults holding the well-to-do positions they supposedly held in Brooklyn society.

Also, this book was very busy! There were multiple points of view, but none of them fully lined up. Also, there was so much going on politically in this book that I felt that the overall story got lost, and each point of view only skimmed the surface of what was supposed to be a deeper, more emotional situation. I appreciate what the author was attempting to do, but I don't think it was very well executed.

Olga Dies Dreaming has all the elements for a successful novel: a compelling tale of resistance to the oppressor, and how minorities have to change who they are to fit in the mold white people put on them; a tale of loss and mistakes that change lives forever; the story of two Puerto Rican siblings from Brooklyn who lost their father to addiction and their mother to her journey to free Puerto Rico. I'm sure those elements will resonate with a lot of readers, as they should.

However, as emotional of a read that this was supposed to have been, the feeling I felt the most was boredom, and it was really hard to overcome that feeling in order to enjoy this book, no matter how much respect I may have had for a particular passage or development of a singular character.

I found the pacing to be extremely slow and the dialogue predictable. I also have to agree with another reviewer who said that "the little missives about gentrification could have been lifted from a book from 1995 with no changes, a seemingly astute political point that is actually just the laziest observation one can make."

Overall, I really wanted to enjoy this book, but as I sat down after reading it, I felt like a lot more could have been done and found this book sorely lacking. In the end, I couldn’t emotionally connect with any of the characters, and that's what makes or breaks a book for me.

- thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC in exchange for an early review.

(3.75)

This was a ‘read now’ book on NetGalley and I downloaded it ages ago. It has a good cover and sounded interesting, but I kept putting it off as I didn’t have high expectations – taking a risk on NetGalley books I haven’t heard of doesn’t usually lead to a good result. However, in the months since it came out, I’ve been seeing good reviews and that gave me the push I needed to read it.

This is not my typical read. It reads like a romance, but the actual romance is quite a small part of the story – there is so much more. At times perhaps too much more, as the author really tries to cover a lot of issues: family drama, careers, romance, racism, politics, culture and more I won’t mention so as not to spoil anything. It was an easy read though, and I liked Olga – she was a realistically flawed character.

Intelligent, informative, engaging but I don’t think this is a story that will stay with me for long.

Thank you NetGalley and Flatiron Books.

Xóchitl González's debut novel, Olga Dies Dreaming is one of the best character-driven novels I've read in a long time. I usually stay away from these types of books because the plot is usually lacking, but what's really remarkable here is that González is able to weave both a character-driven story with a full featured, enjoyable plot.

Our main character Olga Acevedo, is a wedding planner with a roller coaster personal life. I won't go into too many details, but let's just say that her love life is very intricate. Her brother, Prieto, is a congressman in Brooklyn who is popular within the community. Olga is doing extremely well for herself, not only in wedding planning, but also in business. The events in Olga Dies Dreaming take place through multiple timelines, but the main timeline is the before and after of the devastation of Hurricane Maria. During this time, Olga tries to figure out what is most important in her life, but it also gets more complicated when she meets Matteo.

This story has so many aspects to it that just continue to unfold as your turn the page. Misogyny, sexuality, sexual assault, power dynamics between the haves and the have-nots, white privilege, racism, and family drama. This book does not shy away from powerful topics. I found that it was difficult to connect with the characters due to the author's form of storytelling (it comes across more of a "telling you how it's happening" rather than showing you), but I overall enjoyed seeing Olga and her brother navigate these topics.

A major aspect of this book was the dynamic between Puerto Rico and the mainland USA, especially after Hurricane Maria. Olga Dies Dreaming portrays an accurate and deeply saddening portrayal of the relationship of the treatment of Puerto Rico after the hurricane devastated the island and it's a part of history that we should never forget. This book touches on Puerto Rican politics, both on the island and in the States.

The book is quite a slower paced novel than I usually tend to pick up and the ending feels a bit rushed, but I definitely think Olga Dies Dreaming is a great debut novel and would be a great television series or movie. Time will tell!

Discussing the Puerto Rican experience, machismo, generational trauma, colonialism, capitalism, and sexuality within the Latine community, this novel was incredibly engaging, insightful, and an all-around great read.

Deeply character driven with a lot of details. I do not think this book is for everyone. I have been deeply engrossed in this story. I did not want to stop reading! It took about 50 pages to get into this story, but then I was hooked. You could see the tension building up into what would be a huge conflict and it was palpable. Boy did my heart break for the characters during several scenes in this book 💔. The letters were so so self serving. (Spoiler, sorry) — quick analysis of the mother character—without revealing too much of the plot, I enjoyed the way the specter of the mother affected the characters in so many ways- their emotions, decisions, memories, reactions in love and friendships. I think it was a creative writing tool which slowly revealed itself, like being poisoned slowly over your lifetime. There is a lot to analyze here, lol. I will be thinking of this for some time coming up and I’m interested to re evaluate how this may have been used in other books I’ve read.

I felt the ending was a little jarring, but I could have easily read another 300 pages, lol. I think a second or third book or prequel could be very interesting. I enjoyed the historical fiction aspects of this book and the love of Brooklyn.

I will definitely read any future books by this author.

Pg 267
“He’d felt himself a matryoshka doll, the real him buried and obfuscated underneath levels of commitments and compromises. Only with his daughter did he feel his core self engaged….a sense of utility has blossomed while in Puerto Rico that had evaded him for years…on the island..was the map back to the person he had lost sight of.”

TW: Mention suicide, sexual assault, rape, Hurricane Maria, and drug use

Ok! This book took me out of guard. First, I requested on NetGalley (Thank you) then I ordered it in BOTM because the cover is so intriguing. Then forgot about it because, life. When I finally pick it up I really though it was about a Mexican family or some sort. (Author name gave it away) But my surprise the book is about Puertorrican's in the diaspora and everything that happened before, during and after Maria's hurricane. Me being a Puertorrican that live through it all in the island, have a lot to say.

I'm going to start saying that I love this new perspective of what happened during this time. I could still recall some moments mentioned by the book that made me tear up, because that experience change us and made us wake up from the ashes, made us realize that we need a Puerto Rico libre or at least more people in power willing to do what need to be done for our island.

Olga and Prieto are both daughter and son of Blanca Acevedo a puertorrican revolutionary. She abandons them when they are teen to fight for a Puerto Rico Libre. (I feel like I 've heard this story before, maybe a well know men who this in the past).

The book narrates how big companies were playing with our land instead of helping while we were dying because of the lack of food, water and even electricity. This made my eyes teared up a little bit because I could feel that this was exactly how it happened or maybe something along the lines. Olga Dies Dreaming also explains a little bit of the political status in Puerto Rico and what happened after the Hurricane with the governor who was leading that year.

In 2017, 4645 people died because of Hurricane Maria and the government hide all those deaths, deaths of AMERICAN CITICENS.

This is one example of a book that while I praise It for the societal issues it brought up like intersectional feminism, it lacked to give me the emotions I craved it would.
Although I was happy with how Olga and her brother grew and developed throughout the novel, it was still just that. I wasn't emotionally invested as I would have hoped which is why it is not a full five star for me. I wish I had seen it in the Women's Prize this year but it sadly did not make it. An author to look out for!

Thank you Netgalley for this e-copy. My opinions are my own.

The book and I started off on the wrong foot and I just never warmed up to it. The whole scene with the napkins was the beginning of the end. I never grew to like Olga. Sometimes you dislike a character but you understand why they act a certain way but I never really felt she had any redeeming qualities, apart from going to the funeral in the beginning. And her brother! Even worse.

I'm sorry to say this book was not for me. Thank you, NetGalley, for the chance to read and review this book.

I just couldn't get into this story the way I was hoping. This book definitely has so much worth, but it was just not for me. I didn't love the writing style and was put off by a lot of the sexual language early on. Sadly, not for me.

Olga Dies Dreaming is a lot of book. Not a lot of pages, but a lot of book. First, it's about a woman dissatisfied with her life, which is the subject of unknown novels already. But it's also the story of maternal abandonment. And colonialism. And honesty. And a lot more. Somehow, it works. On the first page, it seems to be about a shallow wedding planner overly concerned with napkins, and then somehow by the end I saw how the dang napkins were a part of the whole messy business that is someone's life.
The characters are far from perfect, even at their redemptive points, but their growth is apparent from beginning to end. They're complicated throughout. They struggle, and they never exactly figure out the perfect way. Which is all fine. That makes them seem real.

Some people may not like the political leanings of the book, but it added extra depth to a lot of the characters. I appreciated learning a lot more about Puerto Rico, and I realized I need to learn a lot more.

Overall, Olga Dies Dreaming is a thinker. It's one I'm going to be turning over in my brain for a long time. Which means I'll probably read it again at some point, so I recommend it if you're looking for that type of book.

This is a story easy to get caught up in. Its complex with strong characters about a Puerto Rican immigrant family in Brooklyn. Olga is a wedding planner. She’s learned to use the system to be connected to wealthy clients. She’s a tough businesswoman with a heart of gold for her family. I loved the opening where Olga is discussing how the quality of wedding napkins shows how Americans view wealth. She’d like to be the Puerto Rican version of Martha Stewart. Her brother, Prieto, has entered politics and has become a US Congressman. He vows to help Puerto Rican neighborhood, but his hidden homosexuality makes him hostage to people who are more interested in lining their own pockets. Their mother has left them to pursue the independence of Puerto Rico and the siblings were raised by their grandmother. Their father died of AIDS. As the story moves forward, Olga becomes more and more aware that her chasing of the American dream—money and fame, are not as important as her heritage. Coming to a head after the disastrous Hurricane Maria decimated Puerto Rico, Olga and Prieto are brought to the forefront in the humanitarian crisis and find out that their mother’s guerilla warfare against the system and her demand for Puerto Rican freedom make more and more sense as the Trump administration hands contracts, not to the capable, but to cronies who support Trump. Her views on the limitations of capitalism and political corruption are so well illustrated in this rich complex story.

Olga Dies Dreaming is a big story, weaving together culture, career, family, and politics. Readers will enjoy getting tangled up with Olga, a wedding planner for the rich, and her brother, Prieto, a United States congressman representing Brooklyn. The novel provides a solid background of Puerto Rican American history. Olga's extended family is full of secrets, disappointments, and love. A wonderful, sometimes sad, but yet hopeful read.

I found it really refreshing to read this book that touches on Puerto Rican specific issues. Being from the U.S., its rare to get a real impression of the harm the U.S. has done and continues to do to the island and its people. As the same time, I appreciated that it looked into radicalism and the pros and cons of it. Although I am not Puerto Rican, I am Latinx and I loved the cultural aspects interwoven through the narrative. No one is completely good. They make mistakes and are messy at times which made it feel way more real.

This interwoven tale of a family in turmoil (family secrets and upheaval) in the time leading up to Hurricane Maria. For fans of culturally diverse character driven fiction.

A complex novel that's not your typical romantic comedy. Set in NYC in 2017, this story examines culture, politics, family, relationships. Character driven, unevenly paced, overall an interesting read.

[Thank you to Netgalley and Flat Iron Books for my gifted e-ARC copy, in exchange for a review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.]

I still can't believe Xochitl Gonzalez is a debut author, because this book feels anything but a first launch into the book world. Gripping, deep, interesting, and emotional - Olga Dies Dreaming has a little something for everyone.

- Intersectional Feminism
- Social & Political Issues
- Family Dynamics
- Racism
- Character Driven

& so much more. This is one of those books that you pick up, and finish feeling like a different person. It offers perspective and heart and makes you feel smarter and all-around better for reading it. That being said, this is a book to take your time with, to savor, and to talk about with others. When the story gets too heavy, or you need time to process, Gonzalez does a great job at providing comedic relief (Whether that be about wedding napkins, or interactions with other characters).

Highly recommend, 5 stars. And 5 stars for this gorgeous cover, for what it's worth.