Olga is a no-nonsense wedding planner for the elite of New York City. Her brother, Prieto is a congressman representing his quickly gentrifying Latinx neighborhood in Brooklyn. Over two decades ago, their mother Blanca abandoned them to join a militant political cause for her home of Puerto Rico. Raised by their grandmother, and by each other, they each found a way to rise in the world, hoping that what they achieved will make their mother proud, despite her disparaging letters she sends over the years. Both seem to lead perfect lives on the outside but inside they harbor deep secrets and closeted resentments.

Honestly, this book was not my favorite. I felt like the majority of a chapter was usually about some incident that happened way before the present moment. The book is billed as a "what happens when their mother returns to their lives" story, which doesn't happen until the last quarter of the book. I kept waiting for her to show up earlier. The build up falls flat and it doesn't come off as this big revelation/turning point for Olga and Prieto as it could have been. Overall, they are strong protagonists who must deal with familial issues and if they have achieved the "American dream."

I learned a lot about the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, how it devastated Puerto Rico, and how the Trump administration did little to help them. It's not surprising that so little was done, and I hope that things change in the near future.

OLGA DIES DREAMING is a book about the changing of NYC, the horror of mid-2017 politics, and family secrets within a close knit Puerto Rican community. There is also a sprinkling of romance which I found to be very endearing. We follow Olga and Prieto, siblings who have been somewhat orphaned by a father who dies of HIV due to drug use when they are kids, and a mother who leaves them to go back to Puerto Rico to join an underground nationalist movement. This leaves them to fend for themselves and in turn, they become a famous wedding planner (Olga) and a congressmen (Prieto), though they both wish they were other people in very different ways.

It is interesting to view the events of 2017 through the eyes of González's writing as we once again witness the horror of Hurricane Maria. The backdrop of this disaster is what drives the plot, however as someone who loves a plot-driven book, this is my biggest issue with the book as it is mostly character driven and not too much action actually happens (in my opinion). It certainly reads like a debut novel and it had trouble holding my attention, though I do feel like it is absolutely a worthwhile read and the TV series that they are making out of it will probably be amazing.

This book opens with the titular character working as a wedding planner, fulfilling every desire of her ultra-wealthy clients. But don’t let the first chapter fool you—this story is anything but frivolous. From covering the United States’ failure to help its citizens after Hurricane Maria decimated Puerto Rico to parental neglect and HIV stigma, this book wraps a love story (well, a love story between siblings AND a love story between romantic partners) into the political turmoil of our time. The most devastating passages involve Olga and her brother Prieto’s abandonment by their mother, who left them to pursue her revolutionary ideals—inflicting deep wounds they wouldn’t behind to heal until their forties. Xochitl Gonzalez deftly weaves family drama (the napkins!) into a life-and-death battle to save Puerto Rican lives.

This review will be posted on December 13, 2021 to: https://instagram.com/amandas.bookshelf

Olga and her older brother, Prieto, are big deals in 2017 New York City. She's a wedding planner to the 1% and he's a famous member of the House of Representatives. In the months leading up to Hurricane Maria, the personal collides with the professional as the politics and future of Puerto Rico hangs in the balance. Through it all, they have each other as they face secrets, hard truths, traumas, and deal with the re-appearance of their long absent (and deeply radical) mother. @xochitltheg entwines their stories with the history of Puerto Rico, the lingering impact of US colonization, and the push for the island's sovereignty. Her exploration of Olga's sex life, mental health, toxic family relationships, and identity and place in the Puerto Rican diaspora was insightful and sensitively addressed. I love Olga so much - she's one of my new fav contemporary characters - and I'm super grateful to Gonzalez for sharing her with us. #OlgaDiesDreaming Rating: 😊 / really liked it
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This book is scheduled for publication on January 4, 2022. Thank you @flatiron_books for providing me this digital ARC via @NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you @netgalley @flatiron_books and @xochitltheg for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Olga and her brother Prieto seem to have their lives figured out. Olga is a sought after wedding planner, while Prieto is a popular congressman. Both have quite a few secrets that they’re hiding from not only the world, but each other. With the mother that abandoned them years ago, to become a revolutionary, re-emerging in their lives, everything seems to get turned upside down.

This book was so much more than I was expecting. It was a slow start for me, but then I found myself eager to see the story play out. You can’t help but start to route for Olga as you follow along with her internal struggles with both her current situation and her upbringing.

This one gets 4⭐️‘s from me!

Olga Dies Dreaming releases January 2022!

There's a lot that I like about this book - Olga is a complex character, not necessarily unlikeable but she's definitely not concerned with whether or not you *do* like her, which I found refreshing. It's incredibly feminist and anti-colonialist, recognizing a lot of nuance within those two labels. But I feel like it's maybe being mis-marketed? Or at least poorly summarized - I anticipated her mother's return coming much earlier into the book, and so spent a lot of time feeling like I was waiting and waiting for her to show up.

I'd say this book is more slice-of-life than it appears on its face: a lot of events are attended and meetings are had. I can see myself potentially returning to this someday with a clearer understanding of the plot arc and enjoying it more than I did this time. I don't know if the misunderstanding was mine or if there would have been some benefit to a different summary, but it doesn't change that I think many, many people will love this book. There's no doubt that it's a powerful debut, and I look forward to what's sure to be a promising career from González.

Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez is such a unique and original story. There was so much about it that I loved. A well-disguised history of Puerto Rico and the island’s struggle for independence, a family saga, a love story, a lot of diversity, socio-political commentary, an honest examination of motherhood, the strength and importance of family ties… I mean how much else can you pack into a book?!

The book tells the story of Olga and her brother Prieto who were abandoned at a young age by their mother—an idealistic freedom fighter who felt she needed to fulfil a greater purpose than “just” motherhood. Now, as adults and high-flyers in their respective professions, both are forced to reexamine their values and just how much their mother’s absence has influenced their life-choices.

Like I said, such a good read. My main sticking points would be that overall it’s too long and some of the political commentary read more like a diatribe and less like it flowed from any one character (as in, do people really speak like that?). But overall the book was cleverly done, with the mom’s letters interspersed throughout to give the needed political background, and I just loved the Acevedo family in all their messy glory.

I can’t wait to read more by this author and am grateful for my eARC.

This was a really unique and entertaining and moving read. The story centers around Olga and her brother Prieto who grew up in Sunset Park and their family was one of the first Puerto Rican families to move into the White working class neighborhood. This definitely affected their upbringing as they were always considered outsiders in their own community. Olga, still living relatively close to where she grew up, is a high-end wedding planner and her brother, Prieto is a congressman. He has moved back to the family home to live with his grandmother after a divorce and while he is the face of his district, he also has some shady dealings with some local developers who have information on Prieto that they are threatening to blackmail him with if he doesn’t work with them. Both brother and sister have compromised their ideals in order to be successful and this doesn’t come without consequences, which are explored throughout the novel. The siblings were raised by their radical activist mother – an immigrant from Puerto. Rico who abandoned her children when they were younger and she is still a fugitive. The format of the storytelling alternates between Olga and her brothers’ point of view and while this is a slow burn, it’s a really gripping and complex look at politics, identity and family dynamics, gentrification and ideals. Thank you to Flatiron Books and NetGalley for the advanced review copy.

I absolutely loved this book and I am thankful for Flatiron and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this beautifully written book. I thought Gonzalez did an excellent job of capturing the Puerto Rican spirit (favorite passage: about the little souvenirs at each wedding made me laugh!). While on the surface this can read as a romance and Olga's desire to find love, it is so much more. Olga and Pietro's desire to come to terms with their mother's disappearance and ties back to the revolutionaries in PR gives the reader an understanding of PR's relationship to the US and what it means to be Puerto Rican on the mainland. I cannot wait to adopt this novel for my Latin American literature course!

This is really an extraordinary history of Puerto Rico masquerading as a novel. The strong points involve the family ties and community that support each other despite politics, poverty, and gentrification. The weak points were the lengthy political paragraphs and my failure to bond with any of the characters. However, I did learn a lot about the struggle for either Puerto Rico’s independence or statehood.

Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the ARC to read and review.

"Olga Dies Dreaming" by Xochitl Gonzalez is a novel about Olga Acevedo, an Ivy League graduate turned wedding planning who lives in Brooklyn, New York. While not the focus of the book, one thing I gained from reading this is an immense amount of knowledge of Puerto Rican history. Gonzalez intertwines different aspects of Puerto Rican history and current events, like the American colonization of the island and the effects of various hurricanes on the island into the book. At first, I thought that the book was going to center only around the love life of Manhattan-based wedding planner, but the book takes surprising twists and turns as the reader learns more about Olga's brother, Brooklyn neighborhood, and family history and the ways that these parts of her life make her feel trapped and push her forward. After some hesitation in the beginning, I really ended up enjoying this book!

You immediately begin cheering for the Acevedo family as soon as you step into this story, everyone except
for possibly the mother, of course. Olga Dies Dreaming, is a great blend of romance, politics and family drama that keeps your attention to the last page, and I am already hoping that Olga's story is not yet finished.
Overall an enjoyable read that opened my eyes to Puerto Rican history and politics.

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the ARC!

This is a great book. Olga and her brother Pedro, known to all by his nickname Prieto, grew up in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, raised primarily by their grandmother and extended Puerto Rican family following the death of their father and the departure of their mother to pursue life as a political activist around the world. Now adults, they are both very successful. Olga runs a wedding planning business she founded, and Prieto is the member of Congress representing the neighborhood where they grew up. While outwardly successful, Olga and Prieto both wonder if they are making the most of their life and staying true to the ideals and hope of their younger selves. When Puerto Rico faces one of its worst storm seasons, all leading up to Hurricane Maria, they are both forced to confront their own choices and what they want from their future, just as their mother comes back into their lives.

This is a very strong debut. The structure of the story, shifting between the present and the past and between the point of views of Olga and Prieto, is an interesting and effective way to tell the story. The various components of this book -- the stories of the individual struggles, the family narrative, and the exploration of several important issues -- all worked well. I was entirely drawn in by the book, and finished it in a day and half because I was so eager to see how the story turned out.

Highly recommended!

I see this one being a top contemporary fiction of 2022. It was really good and gave me all the feels. There were times when I was laughing, crying, and times when I was furious.

This story centers on Olga and Prieto, who are siblings, that were born in Brooklyn from Puerto Rican parents. They are in their 40s but still holding out hope that their mother— who abandoned them when they were teenagers —will one day come back and be a mother to them.

It is full of family drama, heartbreak, secrets, and social commentary. There were times I truly could not put it down. The characters are flawed and hurting and you want to take their pain away and tell them it's okay. It blurs all the lines of right and wrong and has you questioning what you would do in the situations they are presented with.

And Hulu has already picked it up to make a series of it.

I would highly recommend this book!

Thank you to Netgalley and Flatiron Books for this eARC.

Boy do I find the humor to be forced and cringey. I think I've also never been a fan of the 'strong independent woman' type of character who is actually just a combination of rude and insufferable...and Olga seems to belong to this group. Maybe I'll revisit this at a later date and feel differently about it but for now...

Blanca and her husband had been members of the Young Lords, the Puerto Rican equivalent of the Black Panthers, working hard to help their communities and free Puerto Rico from colonial rule. After 13 years Blanca didn’t like her ordinary life so abandoned her family to continue her work of freeing people from oppressors. Their grandmother raised her children and, though letters arrived over the years filled with advice about not falling into the ways of the bourgeois ruling class, they did not erase Olga and Prieto’s feelings of abandonment.

Twenty-seven years later Prieto has become a Congressman, while Olga is a successful wedding planner. When Hurricane Maria brought Puerto Rico into the news the siblings discovered a new love for their familial land, but it also brought their extremely radicalized mother back into their lives. She is fully committed to winning back Puerto Rico for its people and, with thousands of foot soldiers at her command; her plans will have a profound impact on her children’s lives. Ties of familial love, wrapped in a willingness to learn how to really live, will play a part in helping to make this broken family whole again.

Through flashbacks in Blanca’s letters, readers are educated about the struggles Puerto Rico has endured over the years for independence, as well as her relationship with the United States. Hurricane Maria’s impact, as well as its aftermath, are also documented.

I have no idea what the author meant by the obscure title, nor am I a fan of the cover art. However I am definitely a fan of the book’s contents.

Highly recommended for Adults.

I received an advance reading copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to @flatiron_books for my ARC and @librofm for my ALC of Olga Dies Dreaming! I loved both formats of this book.

Pub date: Jan 4, 2022
Genre: fiction, ownvoices
In one sentence: Olga and her brother Prieto are success stories in their New York City neighborhood, but hurricane season brings with it the most destructive hurricane Puerto Rico has ever seen, as well as the return of Blanca, their mother and revolutionary.

Olga is a character that really resonated with me. The narrative makes her voice so clear - I found myself repeatedly highlighting passages on my kindle as she discussed identity, class, politics, racism, family, and other big topics. Prieto is a complex character - he has hidden parts of himself so deep to avoid them affecting his political career, but of course secrets can't help but come out. The coverage of Hurricane Maria is especially important - Gonzalez clearly shows the devastation Puerto Rico experienced through the eyes of her main characters, as they wonder: how could the US have abandoned its territory in this time of disaster?

This was a strong 4+ star read for me, and I think readers who enjoy family sagas, books with social commentary, and coming of age stories will enjoy this one. Both print and audio were a pleasure to experience; Gonzalez's writing has a lovely rhythm to it, and the narration captured the voices of Olga, Prieto, and Blanca very well.

5 stars

5 stars

This book totally took me by surprise, and Gonzalez has landed an instant spot on my "You write it, I read it!" list.

Olga, the titular m.c., is a complicated woman, and the reasons behind these added complications become clear to readers through explorations of different times and characters in her life. When the novel begins, readers join Olga in her current career: wedding planning. This misdirection - starting in the same spot as so many fluffy pieces of women's fiction and a particular brand of romance - with Olga's career alone sets up one of the central themes of this layered novel: that EVERYONE has secrets. Underneath the wedding planning façade, readers learn that there is *so* much more to Olga, and I won't be the one to spoil any of that because watching Olga's truths unfold is only one of the many joys this novel includes.

Part of what makes Olga so riveting is her family members: her brother, Prieto, whose perspective readers see often; her father, an addict who has long since passed away in the present day of the novel; her mother, whose absence but weird, looming presence through nefarious contacts makes her even more terrifying than her revolutionary ties; and a larger cast of characters including Olga's abuela, her hilarious cousin, and more. Like everyone, Olga is seriously shaped by her family and their alternating presences and absences. Prieto, who is a high-profile elected official and filled with his own secrets and shame, is a fantastic character whose fear juxtaposes Olga's bravery at critical moments. Though they are both physically absent through most of the novel, Olga's (and Prieto's) changing relationships with mom and dad are also some of the most riveting aspects of complex character development.

Mercifully, Olga's life does not center on romantic relationships, but her interactions with various men also highlight her growth and the moments in which she both sacrifices herself and achieves new levels of self-assuredness. These connections are not sappy, and, in fact, some are quite dark. But the point is never indulgent romance or Olga's dependence on these individuals. It is endlessly fascinating to watch her feel like she should or must depend on someone until she proves the reverse, make the same mistake that the wisest among us just can't seem to stop making, etc.

Olga is a complex character whose intersectional identity and gripping though still somehow realistic seeming experiences make her one to root for and one whose story kept me engaged unwaveringly. The same is true with every ancillary character in this text. So many themes and motifs get covered here: racism, sexism, homophobia, LGBTQ+ issues, addiction, absent parents, politics, rape, and abortion, just to name a few. All of these characters have secrets, and they are also - in many ways - typical folks. In a sea of reasons I loved this novel, the depiction of this joint relationship - between people and their secrets and between people with secrets and each other - is what I expect I'll remember most fondly.

In case it's not clear, I'll be recommending this one to all different kinds of readers for the long haul and looking forward to whatever Gonzalez has to offer next.

*I was fortunate to receive access to both the electronic and audio versions of this book. As a person who listens to audiobooks regularly, I want to add that this narrator is especially stellar. If you can grab the audio version, I recommend it highly!

A tale of lives set on a course by a mother, disillusioned in marriage and reborn through a desire to rebel. Olga has made a life of some acclaim in catering. She has a Russian partner that finds things her high end clientele appreciates and happily pays over market price. Olga has a brother just as prosperous, who is also paying a price in his public and private life. These two orbit each other along with an extended family that keeps their eyes and ears open for the next message from a mother who knows every move her children make as adults , almost dictating her will through fertive letters and phone calls. It seems to both just as their heads are above water , a message arrives to disrupt. A chance at a real romance for Olga prompts her to really look at her life , her business practices, and the path she’s chosen. It’s an exercise in self awareness and resolve. The point where a child can no longer just accept what a parent wishes . That moment when your feet are secure enough on terra firma to hold you upright.

Once I saw this book and read the description, I KNEW I had to read it. This story follows a young Puerto Rican, Olga and her journey to finding her true voice. This story touches on the generational trauma that is found in many Latino Family’s and the abuse and racism Latinos experience. As a Puerto Rican myself it was extremely refreshing to read a story that I can personally relate to parts of it. Xochitl Gonzalez writes a rich and beautiful story, cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy.