Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review of the audiobook.

This book was just ok. I enjoyed the breezy presentation and the feminist angle of the book, but I felt like the story was not very current. I thought that the themes of gentrification and the issues of displacement for families unable to afford proper housing were definitely issues we are still facing. However, I found the book preachy at times. I did appreciate the ability of the main characters to rise above their circumstances- specifically parents who basically abandoned them. I really did not like the characters- I thought they were all somewhat without morals or principles. I think this could have been a great book but something was just missing for me. I plowed through it but it got to be a chore. I definitely like the author's voice and would like to read more by her but this was not the right book for me.

Olga Dies Dreaming was my last read of 2021 and I couldn’t have been more pleased with it. There is so much to unpack in this book, I hope to do it some justice but I urge you to experience this story yourself. ☺️
We mainly follow Olga and her brother Pedro as they unpack events of their past, try to reconcile their identities as New Yorkers and Puerto Ricans, and navigate a complex relationship with their mother.

It’s as if Olga and Pedro mirrored Puerto Rico’s almost but not quite standing with America. Yes, you are American, but only in terms of what we can take or benefit from you. Only when you assimilate to our ideals, values and agree to keep us in control of the power & your resources. But the moment you need anything from us, is the moment you go back to being different, separate, other.

Xochitl Gonzalez really put me through the emotions as she brought these characters to life on the pages. I too wrestled with the anger and respect Olga and Pedro felt for their mother and it was as if I was processing their relationship alongside them. Identified the most with Olga and her search for acceptance and approval from this country by assimilation, from her family, from her love life and from herself. I definitely recommend putting Olga Dies Dreaming on your radar, tbr or wishlist.

This is SUCH a fascinating book with vivid characters that I honestly want to ask out for a cup of coffee. Why do I always get friend crushes on fictional people?? 😂🤦🏼‍♀️

Olga is a wedding planner to only the bougiest of brides while her brother, Prieto is a local boy turned popular congressman, representing their neighborhood in Brooklyn. They each are trying to lift up their Latinx community, especially Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. The siblings are both trying to navigate the social scene of the upper crust while staying true to their family roots, which makes for a challenge since their mother abandoned them when they were kids to become an activist in her home country.

The story switches back and forth between the POVs of each sibling, which I always appreciate. It’s interesting to read a well-rounded take on the plot instead of just one narrator.

One of the things I loved most about this book was getting to experience Puerto Rican culture and history through the eyes of Olga and Prieto. There was such warmth and love, but also the tension that comes from gentrification and the fight over statehood.

This would be a perfect book to start your year on and is seriously a triumph of a debut from Xóchitl González. 😍

Thank you to @netgalley and @flatiron_books for the chance to read an ARC of this amazing book!

I was very thankful to receive a review copy of the audiobook of Olga Dies Dreaming courtesy of #netgalley and @macmillanaudio. Before I was approved for the audio, I'd also purchased a print copy, so I had a chance to experience both mediums.

I loved so many things about this book. Gonzalez’s writing style is precise and descriptive, while still comfortable to read. I wasn’t really familiar with the details of the historical and political situations in Puerto Rico, and the book provided a great deal of information on that topic in a way that felt highly relevant to the story. I loved the relationships between the characters, especially Olga and Matteo. Most of all, however, I loved the characters themselves.

Olga Dies Dreaming is incredibly character-driven, which is not something I usually enjoy, but Gonzalez’s characters are so engaging and multidimensional that I just wanted to savor them. This is especially true for Olga-she comes across as smart and shrewd from our first encounter with her. As the story develops, it’s evident that her cool facade is meant to protect a sensitive woman who’s been hurt and felt used too many times. I really appreciated how real Olga and Prieto felt. Both are highly accomplished, but also deeply flawed to the extent that their personal relationships are negatively impacted.

Based on the book’s description, I expected that we’d be introduced to Blanca (Olga and Prieto’s mother) early on. While her influence is felt throughout the novel, it is her absence, rather than her presence, that has shaped Olga and Prieto. Her perspective is communicated primarily through letters sent to her children throughout her more than two decades away from them. Although she abandoned them so long ago, it’s clear that she expects them to support her role as a revolutionary fighting for Puerto Rico’s independence. In their forties, her children are still exploring their own feelings about Blanca’s actions as well as the extent they’re willing to go to in order to meet with her approval. The way the relationship between Olga and her mother is eventually resolved felt very satisfying to me. Olga's growth in that brought tears to my eyes as I closed the book.

I alternated between the audio and the print version of this book, but the majority of my experience was spent listening to the audio. Normally, I need to increase the speed on audiobooks to stay focused, but in this case I actually slowed the audio down to 1.0 so I could soak in the characters and engage more fully with the narration. This is a case in which the audio version enhances an already wonderful book.

This is a very interesting book, so many cultural and social aspects to get into account, also has some political pov about hispanics people very interesting, is really amazing how the book captures all my attention and understanding how Puerto Rican people had to deal with many issues in their own.

CWs: Suicide, homophobia, gentrification, racism, transphobic language, child abandonment, sexual harassment, a parent with drug addiction, AIDs, a parent with Alzheimer’s, fatphobia, hurricane Maria, toxic/manipulative relationship, domestic abuse, rape, bombing, etc.

Overall: I am very grateful to NetGalley for providing me with this brilliantly done audiobook. The narration was excellently done! Xochitl Gonzalez created such realistic characters, I had to remind myself this was in fact fiction. Going into this, I assumed it was Young Adult but I am so glad that this is Adult! Such great discussions: morals, politics, sexuality, bodily autonomy, dealing with childhood trauma from your past, etc. A lot of these characters, their thoughts, their mannerisms, remind me so deeply of people in my own Latine family/our community. Gonzalez shows how much we deal with from non-Latine people, but also, from people within our own community. There are lots of conversations about how Latine people can say we love our family but are not accepting of them being queer/different than their expectations of us.

Queer rep: I do wish that the queer rep was handled a bit differently. There’s not one queer person in this book that is just content with their queerness. The opening of the book is a queer man killing himself because he tests positive for HIV. He was in an open relationship with his partner who reacts…. Strangely to his death. It rubbed me the wrong way as a queer man. We follow two siblings whose father dies from AIDs. Then the brother also gets scared he has HIV for being a closeted gay man and it’s an entire plotline. The queer rep was just… not my favorite. Also, you can see Gonzalez trying hard to be inclusive and uplighting of queer people. Trans people are mentioned, once very briefly, HOWEVER, the language in this book is (I believe unintentionally) very transphobic. You cannot say you stand with trans people and then call it “women’s reproductive health” or call men “males”. Just be mindful if you’re trying to have conversations about supporting queer people from all walks of life. As a Latine trans reader, there were tons of times where I was highly uncomfortable reading what Gonzalez had written because it was transphobic rhetoric. I am positive that was not her intention, but that is how it, unfortunately, came across.

Final thoughts: Not going to lie, about halfway through I contemplated DNFing this audiobook. Now that I have actually gone back and listened to the entire novel, I’m so glad I didn’t DNF. This novel has the same vibes as DETRANSITION, BABY with its handling of really hard topics. Just like my thoughts of DETRANSITION, BABY, I believe OLGA DIES DREAMING is a hard read but completely worth it. This is not a fun, lighthearted Latine book to clap yourself on the back for reading diversely. This delves deeply into our community, and honestly, deeply into the world as a whole. I would highly recommend, just keep the Content Warnings in mind before reading!!

I found this story to be interesting, though it had a lot going on. It almost felt like two different books in one where the first was pre-natural disasters in PR and the second was the aftermath. I do think personally that I might've enjoyed this book more had I read it via a physical copy rather than listened to the audiobook.

From the perspective of an audiobook reader, the story was altered by the voices and attitudes portrayed by the narrators. Much of the time, I found myself annoyed or frustrated at the child-like behavior of some characters, especially in moments when it was clearly taking away/distracting the reader from the important story being told.

Given that this book covers a host of serious and heavy topics, I found Olga and Matteo's relationship to be its saving grace. It brought light into the book that was much needed and I feel like those two characters union was even more wholesome by the fact that they seemed to bring out the best in each other.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy of this audiobook. The narrators were engaging and brought the protagonists to life. This is a story of family, loyalty, and the trauma that can sometimes emerge due to family. I thoroughly enjoyed the dynamic between Olga and Pietro, and the switch to each of their perspectives throughout the novel helped to fully evolve the characters. The story was strongest when it revolves around these two characters, especially as it tracked their growth and personal strength throughout the novel. I felt the story was sometimes muddied with the inclusion of the conflict with their mother, and it didn’t always feel fully realized. I really enjoyed the first half of the book, but found myself getting less interested as the story went on. I’m looking forward to seeing more work from this author!

This is a layered family story that keeps you listening with several strong narratives and connections to recent events. The characters and events while only loosely based on real life people and happenings feel very real and connected to pertinent themes. I enjoyed the drama and twists in the narrative structure and would definitely recommend this book for 2022.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC of Olga Dies Dreaming in exchange for my honest opinion. There are three narrators, depending on the character whose perspective is being shared in this drama that centers around a family of Puerto Rican descent. Olga, the main character, is a Brooklyn-born and raised wedding planner, and her brother, Prieto, is a Congressman. This was not a quick read (or a quick listen), and I had to listen in big chunks to become invested in the *many* different aspects within this character-driven story: upper-class wedding drama, extended family wedding drama, local politics, gentrification, federal politics, hidden sexuality, HIV, suicide, absent parents, new romance, ex-boyfriend drama, history, Caribbean hurricanes... I don't know if that even includes them all!
I did enjoy the writing and how each of the many various pieces contributed to the overall story. I am impressed that it is a debut novel because it really takes on a lot! I recommend this to others, especially fans of character-driven work, but I think it may be easier to comprehend in book form than as an audiobook as I listened. This one comes out next week (1/4/22).

A profound drama about family, passion, and legacy.

Because I listened to the audiobook, let me start there. The book is written using multiple third-person omniscient perspectives: Olga's, Prieto's, and occasionally, that of Richard, Olga's long-time paramour. Interspersed throughout are also letters from Olga's mother. Therefore, there are three (Puerto Rican) narrators, all of whom did an excellent job, especially the male narrator who does both Prieto and Richard.

Now, about the book itself. I think it was very well done, and beautifully written. However, this is clearly a character-driven book, so if you're looking for an exciting, moving plot, this is not that book. Nonetheless, it's enchanting in its own way, particularly in the complexities of the characters. Without giving too much away, the internal conflicts and secrets (that will surely come to light) weave an interesting web. Personally, my favorite storyline is that of Olga and Matteo. I always enjoy a quirky, didn't-see-it-coming romance. (Well, we could see it, but Olga couldn't.) More importantly, I felt like Matteo really let Olga just be.

There was a lot of politics and history -- not my fave -- but I was at least glad that it was integral to the story and not just a backdrop. However, I thought the ending, where the actual main conflict finally appeared, was a little underwhelming. And then the book just ended, conveniently wrapped up in a neat little bow. I get the moments were big for the characters, but for all of the build up, I felt let down. Also, the majority of the book takes place over a few months in 2017 (not including Olga's mother's letters) and the epilogue is set in 2025. Normally, I would love that, but in this case, it was unnecessary in my opinion. We didn't get enough information to warrant that jump in time, and (again, without spoiling it) there's a big unanswered question. I'm guessing that's the point, but I like epilogues to provide closure.

Overall, I think this book is worth the read if you like character-driven novels, or if you don't mind a story with a slow build that unravels a little but at a time. Again, I love the writing in this book, and the way it was written, so I would recommend it just for that. I see a Hulu series is in the works, and I think this book would definitely transfer to the screen well so I will be watching! And I look forward to seeing more from this author.

I loved this book. The characters were so well-written and flawed, and I really liked the way the story was written.

I do not like to write bad reviews, but unfortunately, this book didn't really deliver what it could have. Sadly it was clunky and didn't pull together at the end. I wished I learned more history of Puerto Rico and the struggles of the people. However it didn't deliver much of anything, but a little of everything. The characters did not really stand out either.

Olga Dies Dreaming [out on 1/4/2022]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hope everyone is having a very lovely & cozy wrap up to 2021 ☕️🎄✨ I have a new release recommendation to add to your 2022 TBR — “Olga Dies Dreaming,” out next week!

This book primarily follows Olga & her brother Prieto, who grew up in Brooklyn with their Puerto Rican family (including their mother who left them in their teenage years to pursue radical groups - only leaving a few critiquing letters to her kids in her wake). Olga is now a wedding planner for the NYC elite & Prieto is a congressman — their past comes rushing back when Hurricane Maria hits Puerto Rico.

There is so much to discuss about this book! We have Olga’s love life, (Dick vs Matteo), Olga’s business practices, Preito’s sexuality, their broader family dynamics (aunts + cousins), and their relationship with their estranged mother … all set against the backdrop of a Brooklyn being gentrified + Puerto Rico not getting the same rights or resources as states — brought to light even more in the midst of a crisis.

While there was a lot going on, I loved the characters and their POVs. I thought they were complex and real and relatable, and their dialogue both made me laugh & want to cry at certain at points. I loved the realness of the napkin saga and on the other hand, the realness of Olga being there for Prieto at his scariest hour.

Even though Olga is American, I think throughout the book she gives more space for her Puerto Rican heritage, and through that I learned a LOT about PR I didn’t know. The line about how it’s residents were just happy + grateful that the hurricane wasn’t worse shows the optimistic mentality of these people.

I think you’ll like this one if you like complex characters, rotating POVs, and are interested in culture / identity and it’s intersections with family and places.

This debut novel grabbed me early on and kept me hooked. Olga isn't a warm fuzzy character, which sometimes makes her unlikeable. However, she has some pretty impressive skills, works hard (if not always above-board), and has loving relationships with family and friends. There is a lot of social and political commentary, which I personally enjoy. There are some especially funny scenes involving Olga's love/hate/passive-aggressive relationship with one of her cousins, along with more tender familial relationships with her brother, niece, grandmother, and at least one aunt. Olga and eventual love-interest Matteo are both emotionally fragile and flawed, but end up bringing out the best in each other. I noticed that another early reader felt the handling of an aspect of brother Pedro's story was outdated. I wonder if the anxiety Pedro experienced was appropriate to his cultural experience and age. Gonzalez did a good job of interlocking storylines between characters and over time.

Sensitive issues include mental health, drug addiction, suicide, racism, parental abandonment, and rape. Corporate and political corruption, misogyny, and the US government's mistreatment/mishandling of Puerto Rico also play significant roles.

Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio, for the audio ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

For a debut novel, the historical, political, and social content came together in a way that did not feel forced. I thoroughly enjoyed Xochitl's usage of letters from Olga and Prieto’s mother to drive along their character development. I felt the direction of the letters also gave the reader an additional perspective to Puerto Rican culture both States side and on the island.
Narrators Almarie Guerra, Armando Riesco, Inés del Castill were great casting choices for the audio book production.
I am looking forward to Xochitl’s next novel!

Thank you to Net Galley and Macmillan Audio/Flatiron Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Wow, wow, wow! I've got a love-loveish (as apposed to a love-love) relationship with this book. First, I love an audiobook that includes different narrators for the main characters. This helps you really get into the story. Told mostly from the point of view of a sister-brother duo and their mom. Second, I love the culture representation and colors on the cover. Third, are we sure this story isn't true? Because if I close my eyes I can see what was depicted during a very specific natural disaster in the book actually unfolded in real life. Kuddos to the author for not name dropping 46-1.

The story that unfolds is one of family, culture, love, parental abandonment and tragedy with the kids ending up "alright." Triggers include drug addiction, suicide, LGBTQ community, rape, tragedy, terrorism, and the effects of hurricane disasters.

Now, I'm not saying this isn't possible, but the lack of mental health care was shocking. But then again, I can understand the stigma still attached to seeking mental health care, as a minority. Plus, the lack of consequences for some of the professional decisions the siblings made was a surprise.

I would definitely recommend this book to a friend.

Thank you MacMillian Audio and Net Galley for this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. The cover is beautiful, to start. But I don’t read many family drama fiction type books. This was funny and had a way of weaving in historical content that I really enjoyed. I love love love Matteo and his quirks. Like the hoarding plot point was amazing.

I expected to be giving this Olga Dies Dreaming 5 stars, given all the hype and rave reviews I've seen about it. However, I struggled to finish this book, despite the fact that I found the last part of it to be the best. (The book, imo, is also too long). I listened to it, and am not sure if I'd have enjoyed it more - or less- had I read the physical copy.

I am not certain what it it about the book that I found so off-putting: the plot seemed to go around and around, kind of, as I've explained it to a few friends, all over the place, and for sure, some parts could have been edited out Yes, there is a plot - Olga and her brother grew up with their grandmother in NYC, having lost their father to addiction and AIDS, and their mother to abandonment...she left them to join a revolutionary group in eternal hopes of of a free Puerto Rico. Olga is a wedding planner, who is finally and rather reluctantly finding love with Mateo, after several failed and traumatic relationships,, and her brother, Prieto, is a congressman who finally comes out of the closet after a lifetime of hiding his sexuality. The backstory is what I found the most interesting: a focus on Puerto Rican politics, the manner in which US politicians and corporations deplete the island of its resources and continue to colonize Puerto Rico, worse now than ever before. Hurricane Maria is used to explicate this.

I did not find Olga to be a very compelling character. In fact, her brother, Prieto, and her boyfriend, Mateo were far more interesting to me. There are a lot of issues that this book explores: identity, Puerto Rican identity, sexuality, addiction, HIV/AIDs, gentrification, corporate greed, the plight of Puerto Rico, misogyny, family secrets and shame, and other compelling topics, but again, I found the examination of these themes to be somewhat superficial. The reader is also asked to make sense of the way in which Olga and Prieto's mother abandoned them to seek her calling. There is a lot there that might have gone deeper.

I am thinking/hoping that the forthcoming Hulu series will be more compelling and enjoyable than the book. In short, I'm glad I read it for myself!

There’s a lot to like about this book.

So often, books that have an activist slant can be in-your-face in a way that takes you out of the story. But Olga Dies Dreaming looks directly in your eye as it brings up issues like HIV/AIDS stigmas in Hispanic communities, U.S. imperialism in our treatment of Puerto Rico, the racism that undergirds our government’s response to cries for statehood or help in response to disasters like Hurricane Maria.

Gonzalez writes about all of these things, but in a way that doesn’t detract from the story of Olga, her Congressman brother Prieto, and their living and moving through the ranks of upper-crust Brooklyn society.

This book was really fun and hard to put down. It had drama, made me laugh, a good romance, and made some powerful points about what it means to struggle for freedom.


Thank you to Flatiron Books and NetGalley for a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All views expressed here are mine.