This book was a joy to read. I enjoyed the way the story flowed and I had a few moments that kind of made me question a few things. The characters were very interesting and I had smile quite a few times. This author really knows how to tell a story that will captivate you from the very beginning. I highly recommend this book and this author.

When I first read the synopsis for this I was really intrigued. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book whose sole narrative was that of a phone call, a one sided phone call at that. I started reading it and found the format to be so confusing (more on that later) and instead waited for the audiobook. I am so glad I did! It’s a fantastically poignant coming of age that tackles coming out, the death of a loved one, and figuring out a new position in the family beautifully.
It’s early September 2017 and newly turned 18 Luciana is going through a crisis. In a phone call to her older sister, Mari, she explains how she and her mother are getting ready to evacuate Miami due to the impending Hurricanes Irma and her grandmother, Abue (pronounced ahb-way), is stubbornly staying put. In many different phone calls to Mari over the next 8 months Luciana discusses everything that’s bothered her, from not being accepted for who she is, to worrying about Abue’a health, and even how angry she is Mari isn’t coming home more.
As I stated before the style of writing is one I’ve never seen before. The one sided dialogue works so much better than one might think, but the cutaways to the moments that previously happened and about which Luciana is telling Mari make this a very difficult and confusing read. I found the audiobook to be brilliantly done because while it’s read by one narrator, Elena Rey captures each character perfectly.
I find it so hard to believe that this is Melissa Mogollon’s debut because while the style is unique, the content is moving. I cannot wait to see what else this innovative author has for us. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Hogarth for an adventure copy. I’m sorry it took so long for me to get to, but it was well worth the wait. Oye hit the shelves May 14th.

Representation: Lesbian MC, Colombian family

Rating: 4/5 This was an interesting format, written in a way where we only get one side of the conversation from the main character calling her sister. We sometimes listen in on calls with the sister, sometimes voicemails. The main character is doing her damnedest to hold the family together while it’s actively falling apart during a crisis with a hurricane coming and evacuation imminent. It took me some time to get used to the format, since it’s all one-sided, so you do have to kind of fill in the gaps a little bit. But overall, I did like this story and how it told of a daughter having all of the responsibilities piled on her until she breaks.

As someone who was recently going through the death of a grandparent when I read this book, I can say that I didn't almost read it because of how close to home the content was but am now so glad I did. Luciana trying to keep everything together for her family was all too relateable and I loved the connection that she had to her grandmother. I didn't think the format of this book was going to work for me, but ended up actually really liking it! I hope it wins the center for fiction prize and am excited to recommend it to others! Also, the cover is GORGEOUS!

A great read that I enjoyed! I'm excited to see what the author comes out with next! Thank you to the publisher Random House Publishing Group - Random House | Hogarth for my early copy of this book!

Oye by Melissa Mogollon follows Luciana a young Colombian American girl through a series of phone calls to her sister Mari. Through these phone calls we learn this families family saga. In the midst of a crisis Luciana finds herself to be the only voice of reason within her family. She also becomes the main point of contact when her abuela becomes ill. This was very reminiscent of How to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz. Everything is told through these phone calls and you get to know Luciana very well. She is young and a little lost while discovering family secrets and history. Even though she’d rather be out meeting girls you see her grown up. I enjoyed this book and the way it was written. It was engaging getting to know this family and thought her lols drove me a little crazy Luciana was a very interesting main character. If you enjoy family sagas and coming of age stories I’d say pick this one up. 4⭐️

1 star. I hate to rag on a Latinx author with an LGBTQ+ MC, because together, that would make a really great book for me. However, I had many problems with this book, the main one being its setup. To quote the blurb, "As Luciana [the main character] chronicles the events of her upended senior year over the phone, 'Oye' feels like the most entertaining conversation you’ve ever eavesdropped a rollicking, heartfelt, and utterly unique novel by an author as original as she is insightful."

I beg to differ. As someone who has depended on public transportation for pretty much all of my life, this book was PURE TORTURE, because it reads like yet another self-involved a-hole on the bus or train going on for hours and hours and hours. Maybe the conceit and sort-of-unique narrative structure will work for other readers, maybe they will think this a fresh take on things, but for me, this was a book I truly did not like. I hope never to hear Luciana again.

Many thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for a digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

3.5 | I initially started this in print but the structure (one side of a phone call) and voice didn't work for me in that format. Thankfully, a friend suggested trying it on audio rather than giving up altogther and the audiobook worked really well! This is a very voicey book, which will be for some people and not others, but I found Luciana to be an engaging and realistic character. My one gripe is that it probably could have been a little shorter, but overall I enjoyed this one and found it to be unlike anything I've read before.

This was a hard one. Mellissa Mogollon took a unique approach to writing this novel about the relationships between three generations of women. The chapters are a series of phone calls between two sisters. The perspective is from the high school senior who calls her college age sister to update her on the events going on in their family. The reader gets one side of the conversation and retellings of conversations between her mother and her and/or her grandmother and her. Does that sentence seem confusing? welcome to this book. The essential storyline was a good one, but I had a difficult time following who was speaking and what when things occurred. If you enjoy epistolary writing, this might scratch that itch. But be prepared for a challenging format.

this is such a fun idea for a book, and i love quirky strong voices, and i love books about sisters.

unfortunately it's just hard to tell a story about complex family relationships through one sided phone calls. or any story, really. i had no idea what was going on at any given time, and i made it through all 336 pages without understanding what the italics signified. (was it someone else talking? luciana quoting conversations? luciana's sidebar thoughts? all three? i was so confused and for what!)

there were some touching grandmother=granddaughter moments in this, but the sister relationship at the center (and all the others really) were sadly one note. which doesn't leave for much of a plot in a family drama.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Oye is a novel that follows high schooler Luciana and her stressful life. Her sister is away at college avoiding everything, her mother criticizes her every move, and her grandmother is vain and stubborn as a mule. A sudden event causes her to navigate her rocky family dynamics and discover a hidden and complex family past.

This narrative is told entirely through Luciana's phone conversations with her sister Mari. The reader only hears Luciana's side of the conversation though with the occasional flashback with additional side character dialogue. I will admit that it took some time to get used to this structure, but I ultimately did appreciate this fresh approach to storytelling. The plot hit pretty close to home, so personally, it was tough to get past some plot points involving Luciana's relationship with her mother and her grandmother. That's just me though!!! I did very much enjoy unraveling Luciana's grandmother's past! It felt like I was gabbing with a friend or listening to those normal people gossip podcasts.

Overall, I did like many aspects of this book, but ultimately, it wasn't the perfect book for me. However, that's a me thing more than anything! Anyone who enjoys contemporary fiction about intergenerational families told in a unique way, this book is for you!

What I loved about this book:

1. Great Debut!
2. A coming age book that has comedic portions which made you laugh out loud but the angst of coming of age was real!
3. Unique storytelling - takes a while to get used to but loved it in the end!

Worth the read!!


Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Random House for the digital review copy via Net Galley.

Oye was such an unexpected delight! Initially I had trouble getting into the novel because of the way it was structured, which was very unique, but the more I read, the more I was pulled into the story. By the end, I absolutely loved the relationship between Luciana and her abuela and how Luciana really came into her own. This turned out to be a beautiful coming of age story and I highly recommend it to everyone!

Such a good read that I enjoyed! I'm so glad that I got the chance to read it early and will definitely be recommending it to multiple people who enjoy these types of novels. I enjoyed the characters and especially enjoyed the writing by this author. I'm excited to see what the author comes out with next as I'll definitely be reading it! Thank you to the publisher for my early copy of this book!

Oye was an awesome read! I do think it is best read on audio, as that version was excellent. I loved the one sided phone call concept.

I’ve never read a book like Oye. The story is told from phone calls between two sisters, Luciana and Mari, but we only experience Luciana’s POV. Mari has started college and the relationship dynamic between the sisters isn’t the same anymore. On top of that, Florida officials have ordered an evacuation due to a looming hurricane. Luciana’s grandmother refuses to evacuate and following a roundabout road trip with her mother, they seek to rescue her.

I was expecting a comedy, but Oye was that and more. I felt the relationships between these characters so much and loved how much the author touched on those complicated relationships between mothers and daughters, grandmothers and granddaughters, and sisters. I saw myself and my family members in this book. And I just loved it so much.

Thank you to Hogarth and NetGalley for a review copy. I look forward to reading from this author again.

👋OYE👋 by @melissamogollonwriter

Thank you to the author, @netgalley and the publisher, @hogarthbooks for the e-ARC.

💥💥💥

"Fuck that, I am not the freaking feelings janitor."

Lucianna is a third generation Columbian-American living in Miami area with her mother and father while her older sister is away at college. She is a fiercely anxious overthinker struggling to graduate high school who likes girls but can't talk about it after her mom cried for weeks when she came out. She only talks to her sister Mari and best friend Nico about that. When her grandmother (Abue), who lives nearby, is taken to the hospital, the family finds out the awful news that she has cancer. This launches Lucianna's mother into a fix-it-all frenzy, brings about a visit from one of Abue's estranged siblings causing old wounds to erupt, and eventually leads Abue to spill the family's secrets after all these years.

💥💥💥

Part Columbian-American family saga, part queer coming of age, and part end of life story, this book was both hilarious and heartbreaking. Told in a series of chapters that represent one-sided phone calls to her sister, Lucianna narrates this story with all the hype, gossip and drama as would be expected of an 18 year old. I laughed out loud so many times, especially as she recalls conversations between her and her glamorous yet spicy Abue who she adores but also finds to be an enigma - "But imagine a bull. In the body of a butterfly"

This story is also about how the power of fabricated rumors can ruin people's reputations, kill friendships and families and distort history, especially in a small place. While this book took me some time to get through, I found that I always wanted to return to it. The unique style and voice were so well written and it kept drawing me in to find out what Abue's big secret was.

There is a worthwhile message here too - that holding on to bad emotions, resentments and grudges will eat away at you and vulnerability is often the only way to heal. All in all a wild and rewarding ride.

Do you have any siblings? If so, what was your relationship like growing up vs. now?

💚SMASHBOT💚

Luciana is the youngest of her large Columbian American family. She's in high school, and is often taken for granted and overlooked in her family of big personalities. Her older sister Mari is at college, and Luciana misses her greatly.

When Luciana's grandmother Abue refuses to leave her Florida home despite evacuation orders before a hurricane. Luciana is roped into travelling with her mother to get Abue out of there. They find Abue ill, and get her immediate medical help, which reveals much larger, and much more serious problems. Luciana is crushed by the diagnosis, and moves her flamboyant and swanky dresser grandmother into her room at home. Abue has all sorts of demands and causes more uproar in an already volatile family. This, of course, affects Luciana's schoolwork, but her time living with Abue brings the two women so much closer together, prompting Abue to reveal some pretty heavy secrets about her reasons for never returning to Columbia to visit family.

Luciana reveals all this in a series of mostly one-sided phone calls over months to Mari, and we see how author Melissa Mogollon charts Luciana's growth, but also the development of a deeply meaningful relationship between her and Abue.

This is a smartly structured and beautifully characterized story of Luciana, who becomes the sole family member who is focused on her grandmother and her health. Luciana has so much frustration with her situation; her mother has not taken her revelation that Luciana likes girls well, her homework is suffering because of all the family disruptions, and though only a highschooler, Luciana feels in many ways more mature than many in her family. She's full of anger, hurt, love, and confusion, and we can see the strong, wise woman she will eventually become with her tackling one problem or family revelation after another over the course of the novel.

Mogollon also skilfully weaves Abue's difficult life into the story, and how her trauma left damage in successive generations of her family, which is being repaired through Abue's sharing of her secrets with Luciana, and Luciana's processing of them.

The story is ebulliently told, and Luciana and Abue came to brilliant life immediately. Mogollon beautifully balanced out the hurt and pain with moments of humour and warmth. This book was such a pleasure to read.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Random House Publishing Group - Random House for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Such a compelling read that offers a unique perspective on family, identity and resilience. This story will make you laugh, cry and reflect on growing up and all the complexities of life. This is a must read!
Thank you NetGalley !

This book is fantastic! The tone was spot-on, I could imagine over-hearing this conversation easily. The characters were so relatable and easy to fall in love with, each character reminded me of someone in my own family. The writing style was a little confusing in the beginning, but once I learned the flow, I took off. Having a dramatic person telling a story knowing that they are being dramatic added a wonderful layer of humor and lightheartedness to a family that was going through a lot. It was so entertaining to see the characters go through waves of emotions, some I could relate to, others I couldn't, but a beautiful story all together.