Beautiful writing, but also hilarious (such a great combination) and also full of heart. It is set up as if you are listening into some very intriguing conversations (I love this set up). Love the characters of Luciana and Abue. The voice is incredible and the familial relationships are so rich and moving (as well as being funny). This would make a very fun book club selection. High recommend it.

I absolutely love a good telenovela drama filled anything! I do not do drama in my personal life, I like to refer myself as Switzerland. BUT a book filled with drama, please sign me up.

This is a very interesting coming of age book. The most interesting part is this story is based on phone calls with two sisters.

That part threw me off because this is the first for me on how a book was laid out.

Overall it is a good read. The grandmother Abue reminds me of my own grandmother. She was fierce and told it like it was. The characters are very likeable and it will leave you thinking what you, you really want.

Luciana is still a teenager, the youngest of a Colombian American family, when life dumps a hurricane, a family tragedy, and a telenovela-worthy family secret in her lap. She is the closest to the matriarch, Abue, who is the most colorful and entertaining character in the book and the sun around which the family orbits. The structure is challenging but is in good hands with Mogollon, as it unfolds through Luciana’s telephone calls to her sister Mari. Luciana’s wit and and ability to navigate crises juxtaposed with her teenage freak-outs at having to navigate them makes this story hum. Great read.

Many thanks to Random House Publishing and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

Mogollon has written an inventive family novel that is at times laugh out loud funny between Luciana and her abuela. The structure took a little getting used to, as you're getting the story from one side of a conversation, but once I had time to sit and read at length, it pulled me right in and was worth the read. I look forward to where Melissa Mogollon goes from here with such an imaginative debut! Thank you to Random House, Hogarth, and NetGalley for the early read in exchange for my honest opinion. 3.5 stars

I liked the premise of this book and thought the writing was fun. It might have gone on a bit too long since it is a lot of telling and not showing. Its a clever idea, but maybe just too long.

I enjoyed this novel a lot. I love epistolary novels, so having this experience with a story being told from phone calls between sisters was great. Luciana is caught between a health conscious mother, a father who barely seems around, and a sister away at college when Irma approaches and her grandmother falls ill.

Through her calls to Mari, we get the whole picture of what Luciana is dealing with and what she is reaching out to her sister for support. We never hear from Mari, but enough is seen from Luciana's perspective that we are totally in the loop as the family drama unfolds. The way Mogollon writes these calls is so realistic that you can't help but get swept away in the story.

The style of writing was too jarring for me to get through this. The narration is told in endless, one-sided voicemails, with the narrator often bouncing between topics. This style is comprehensible in films but less so in written form, in my opinion.

The tone made for an unnatural reading experience, and I ended up DNFing after a few chapters. Maybe I should’ve looked up the style before diving in.

Structured in a way that the reader is eavesdropping on a one-sided telephone conversation between Luciana (high-school senior) and her older sister Mari (away at college), Oye follow Luciana's senior year and all the family drama that is revealed as her grandmother faces serious medical issues. Her LGBTQ+ coming of age perspective added a complexity to the story that added interest without being THE interest, if that makes sense. I just loved Luciana's sassiness and complete honesty even when it wasn't so pretty. Half the fun was making up the other side of the conversation in my head... you know like we all do when overhearing someone's loud cell phone convo in the check-out line of our local grocery. Oye struck me as hilarious, sad, reflective, shocking, and at times even brutal. How Luciana processed her newly discovered family history was inspiring. Great debut work!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House | Hogarth for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Just when you think you’ve read it all (just kidding, there’s always more to read!), “Oye” by Melissa Magollon comes along with it’s unique phone-call format. The story is told through one-way phone call conversations when Luciana, a high school senior, calls her older sister to update her on their family. At the core of the conversations is Luciana’s relationship with her Abue, as forced proximity leads to a deeper understanding of each other.

The conversations are full of emotion, funny and heartbreaking and raw all at the same time. While this format may not work for everyone, I highly recommend giving this book a shot for a truly unique, special reading experience.

3.5 stars

Most of this tragicomic novel is composed of phone conversations between Miami high school senior Luciana Domínguez and her sister Mari, a sophomore at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. We only 'hear' Luciana's side of the conversation, interspersed with occasional remarks to or from other people.

The phone conversations tell us a lot about Luciana and her family, who come from Colombia.

Luciana has been an indifferent student since freshman year, and now worries she won't get into college. She's attracted to girls, and recalls the scene when she came out to her mother: "[Mom] literally threw herself on the floor, grabbed my foot, and started stomping on her own neck with it saying. WHO. YOU. ARE. IS. KILLING. ME."

Luciana is a little overweight, and her mother Elena - who's well-meaning but annoying - constantly advocates exercise and a better diet. Luciana has never had a romantic relationship; has a gay best friend called Nico; and in many ways, is the steel center of the family.

As the story opens, it's September 2017 and Hurricane Irma is threatening Florida. Luciana and her mother are preparing to evacuate, and Luciana tells Mari that Dad has to stay in Miami to work, and Abue (grandma) can't be convinced to evacuate with them, no matter how much Luciana and her mother cajole, beg, persuade, and bribe the septuagenarian.

After some back and forth talk about Abue's safety, Luciana tells Mari, "FINE. Then just call and confess that she needs to evacuate so you don't feel guilty over not being home. THERE. I SAID IT..... We were invisible to you until Irma found us. But now you desperately need Abue to stay safe, so you don't have to come back or feel guilty if something happens."

This exchange presages Mari's ongoing behavior, which is to put her sorority sisters and college activities ahead of the family at every turn, much to Luciana's anger and dismay.

We learn that 75-year old Abue is determined to be seen as glamorous, beautiful, and affluent at all times. Abue had plastic surgery on her face, boobs, and butt; insists on always having perfect hair and makeup; dresses provocatively; has lots of boyfriends; puts her Publix groceries into Whole Foods bags to fool the neighbors; and wouldn't let the plumber fix her broken toilet for a month, because she'd dyed her hair the wrong color and was waiting for it to grow out.

In any case, Luciana and her mother flee from the hurricane and have an adventurous trip. Along the way they stop at the home of Cousin Susana, and Luciana tells Mari, "The second we got in, Mom started just randomly telling Susana about how she doesn't agree with the IUD treatment that my doctor suggested for my endometriosis....But she kept calling the IUD a DUI. And Susana's face was getting more and more worried, as Mom started walking around saying: Luciana's DUI this! And Luciana's DUI that!" (Afterwards, Luciana had to explain she wasn't an alcoholic.)

When the hurricane danger passes, Luciana and Elena return to Miami and are shocked to find Abue sick and jaundiced in her apartment. It seems Abue refused to evacuate because she was (secretly) feeling ill. This starts the more serious part of the novel, where Abue is found to have a tumor that requires surgery and ongoing medical care. The narrative from this point on is both sober and amusing. For instance, the doctor tells the family "The surgery is going to be high risk....the tumor is beginning to obstruct her functions....this mass might be malignant....she will likely need chemo....etc." The diagnosis is devastating, and Luciana - who's especially close to her grandmother - makes herself the advocate for Abue, and looks out for Abue's best interests.

The family doesn't tell Abue how serious her condition is, and Abue walks around the hospital like a peacock strutting her feathers up and down the halls. The nurses think Abue is perfectly fine and hilarious, and Luciana tells Mari, "The only person that understands the situation at hand is this Haitian nurse named Junior. He loves to discuss astrology, and practice his Spanish with her. And he knows that Abue's performance is one whole long con. Junior even calls her 'diosa' (goddess) whenever he walks in 'Hola hola, diosa. How is my diosa goddess today'....She probably thinks the tumor is worth it....just for that."

Be that as it may, Abue needs home care between hospital stays, and she's installed in the Domínguez household, in Luciana's room. Abue's sister Luisa - whom Abue hates and hasn't seen in decades - volunteers to come help. Luisa's visit provides some of the more revealing moments in the book. For example, we hear that Abue threatened to throw Luisa out the window if she ever actually came to visit; Abue tried to change her phone number when Luisa called to say happy birthday; and Abue insists Luisa planted the tumor decades ago...probably as a favor to their crooked mother.

The sibling visit doesn't actually go that badly, and it leads to revelations about Abue's early life in Colombia, which was difficult and sad.

The story moseys along through Thanksgiving, Christmas, and on into the next year, during which time Luciana takes care of Abue, and Abue reciprocates with affection and encouragement for Luciana. Luciana grows more confident as she finishes high school; plans for her future; tussles with Mari; and occasionally grabs Nico and goes to Ladies' Night - a club with a cute bartender.

I wouldn't call this a comic novel, but it has plenty of light moments in the midst of the drama. A fine debut, dedicated to all grandmothers.

Thanks to Netgalley, Melissa Mogollon, and Random House for a copy of the book.

It's wild that this was a debut! I enjoyed it even though it took me a while to get through (I'm slumping through everything I read lately). Oye follows, Luciana, a queer Colombian-American teenager while she deals with Hurricane Irma and her grandmother's health care.
The book's format is unique and it took a little time to get used to it! But I ended up liking it! It's a one-sided phone call between Luciana and her older sister, Mari.
Oye is filled with complicated family dynamics and humor! I read this book on my Kindle but I think it would make a great audiobook too!

Wow, my perceptions of this book changed so much from beginning to end.

The style in which this book is written is not going to be for everyone, and I initially found it confusing and frankly a little off-putting, as the story is entirely told as one-side of a phone conversation between two sisters.

However, by the end, while I still can't say that I loved the format, it definitely grew on me. Abue's story was heartbreaking.

I'd definitely recommend for fans of intergenerational storytelling.

Real Rating: 3.75* of five
A funny, modern updating of the epistolary novel, with all its strengths and weaknesses intact. The biggest strength for me was Luciana's voice: Raw, unregulated, intensely immersed in a very difficult moment. I have heard criticism from readers about the "foul language" Luciana uses, to all of whom I say, "go read a religious tract if all you want is sweet, uplifting pablum." Luciana's in a car fleeing a bloody hurricane! She's trying to reach her sister! She's left her Abue (Grandma for the monoglots) behind...at the old lady's insistence!

If anyone has a reason to use Language, it's this girl; plus she's talking to her sister! Not an Authority figure. Which brings me to, who says you, the reader, get to be an authority entitled to pass judgment, anyway?

And here I am, passing judgment....

Well, hypocrisy thy name is me, I guess. I disagree with those pursey-lipped objections because I don't agree with them, anywhere, period. To me, this is a feature not a bug: Immediacy and authenticity enhancing the usual epistolary read's sense of becoming privy to another person's intimate communications to someone not you. That style is emotionally more intense, more immediate, than third-person or *shudder* the Satanic Second person narration. That becomes ever more relevant as the hurricane threat is survived and the aftermath begins.

What the story does is deeply unfamiliar and absolutely terrifying to me. It chronicles the emotional reality of a child's bearing the burdens of adulthood, of responsibility for interpreting...on every level that word has in English...the world for the nominal adults around her. I can think of nothing more frightening to read about than that imposition on someone who is also coming to terms with her sapphic love needs. The latter would be enough to stress a kid out, and it certainly has, but add on top the cultural and language interpretation demands...!

This is, to me at least, the very most unnerving of isolations. Luciana is left, by the sister she's leaving these voicemails for, to be in charge of some deeply stressful navigations of her world that I feel sad she has to be burdened with, things that by all rights a teenager should not have to be in charge of. That's conveyed very well by the updated use of the epistolary format.

There are the usual limitations, of course. The fact that this is not a conversation, a la that ur-telephone novel Nicholson Baker's Vox, means that the story is solely the one Luciana sees and feels. We get her character, but are asked to fill in the spaces where the other characters...reduced to names here...need to be. That is inherent in the format, so it does nothing wrong, just leaves more work for the reader. I found that a bit off-putting as time went by; why is Luciana pouring her heart out to Mari anyway, I kept wondering, when there's nothing coming back...and the realization of Luciana's actual, heart-rending isolation came crashing in again.

As an evocation of the absolute intensity of adolescent emotions, passions, and fears, it works. As a novel, it can feel overly dramatic and one-note. That is a risk that the epistolary format carries within itself. I liked the read, but was too overstimulated to love it, as I could never be anywhere but in medias res.

This is a good book, objectively. I am not the right audience, unfortunately. I could not get into the voice, the one-sided phone call. And I don’t need to relate to a character to enjoy a book, but this one just never grabbed me. I didn’t enjoy it, but I’m glad I read it, if that makes sense. I appreciate the topics that Mogollon is exploring and this is a really profound work about a young queer Colombian American woman. It’s an important story that needs to be told. I would recommend it with a caveat to be open-minded and not expect a typical novel. It takes some time to get into, but it is certainly impressive.

Oye is a funny, heart-warming sometimes heart- breaking and empowering debut novel by Melissa Mogollon. The Spanish translation of Oye is listen or listen up. It makes sense as the reader is listening to Luciana Dominquez's one sided phone conversations to her older sister Mari. The story takes place as Luciana is about to begin her senior year of high school. She is struggling with her identity and sexuality, trying to meet her family's expectations without losing herself, and concerned that she will never get accepted to a college. Mari appears to be the bright, somewhat self-absorbed and carefree older sister. After returning from a hilarious yet taxing Hurricane Irma evacuation trip the family finds Luciana' s grandmother, who refused to evacuate, in her home sick. From this point, the reader is taken on a journey detailing how the family chooses to deal with Abue's declining health, through Luciana's eyes. I found Oye a bit challenging to get into; I wasn't crazy about the one-sided conversation approach. It was a longer read for me as I had to stop reading frequently to process what was happening. I now believe that is the magic of the story. Thanks to NetGalley, Hogarth Publishing and Melissa Mogollon for the opportunity to read an ARC of Oye. 4 stars.

✨ Review ✨ Oye by Melissa Mogollon; Narrated by Elena Rey

Thanks to PRHAudio, Hogarth, and #netgalley for the gifted advanced copy/ies of this book!

🎧 Okay, the narration is awesome! this is a book that deserves to be listened to (at least for some so you can get the cadence and rhythm of the writing and narration // I split about 50/50). The book is written as one-side of phone conversations between sisters and so the audio really makes it come alive, shows you where the pauses are, etc. The audio for this book is a must!!

The story's told through Luciana's voice -- she's a high school senior, and baby of her family -- calling her older sister Mari, who is in her second year at college away from home. Luciana updates Mari on the coming hurricane (Abue, her grandma, refused to evacuate, and she's fleeing with her mom), and on a series of health issues around Abue after they return.

The story hits several big themes:
✅ coming of age
✅ queer identity
✅ family relationships
✅ anxiety and grief

Despite these more serious topics this book will also make you laugh. Luciana is sarcastic and dramatic and quick to react strongly to things. Abue is such a character (I totally pictured her like Rita Moreno in One Day at a Time!!) and concerned with things that will make you giggle.

This was such a good debut release, and I'm excited to see what comes next!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: contemporary fiction
Setting: Miami
Length: 8 hours 57 minutes
Reminds me of: One Day at a Time (tv show), How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water (Angie Cruz)
Pub Date: May 14 2024

What a surprising delight! Melissa Mogollon's debut novel Oye blew me away.

Luciana is a high school student. She's very close to her Colombian grandmother "Abue", also to her older sister Mari. The novel is a series of one sided conversations between the sisters, from Luciana's perspective. That might not sound great on paper but it works. Big time.

The action ranges from slapstick to pathos to tragedy. Luciana relays conversations with Abue, her mother, and the aunt who comes to visit when Abue gets sick. We get some of the family's history along the way.

Let's talk about Abue. Seventy something and a spitfire:

"She was even refusing to put on her hospital gown like thirty minutes before the surgery, dude. 'Abue, they can’t operate if you stay in your crop top. Will you please just change?'"

There were so many laugh out loud moments. Abue is a character for the ages, and the evident bond Luciana had with her was very sweet and very relatable. As was the sisterly bond with Mari. There was love, empathy, anger, and frustration all conveyed: "Have fun with bitchy Ghost Abue when she riddles you with guilt for centuries."

This novel was full of heart and humor. Full disclosure - I listened to the audiobook and it was very well done and entertaining. I highly recommend both!

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

The perspective and style of this book is trippy! Told fully through one-sided phone calls with a younger sister, it definitely took me a bit to get into this one. But I kept coming back because it was so fascinating to get this kind of look into a character and to see all of her family members through her eyes. By the end of the book I was fully sucked into the family drama and felt so emotional about her grandmother's story arc. It's definitely worth a read!

Oye is a unique book told in dialogue. It's about family shifting dynamics and the ways we can try to protect our loved ones even if they don't want it. How sometimes what someone just wants is to be left alone. That to watch our loved ones suffer and make mistakes sometimes is just the best way to learn. It feels like a book that would be superb in audio book form. It makes me think about what people would think if they just heard my half of the conversation.

"Oye" is the debut novel of Melissa Mogollon. And what a delightful debut it is!!

From start to finish, the characters LEAPED off the page and demanded this reader's attention. Vibrant! Loving! Hating! Complicated! Hysterically funny! REAL! Heartbroken by *life,* yet never broken.

What makes all of this all the more amazing is that Melissa Mogollon accomplishes this intimacy and reality by utilizing an amazingly personal format. The reader is the proverbial *fly on the wall* listening in, as it were, to our amazing teenage heroine's (Luciana) side of family phone calls to her beloved sister Mari. A sister who just happens to be both physically and emotionally absent from her little sister at a heartbreaking time of family crisis.

This novel has alot to say about many big, real, and difficult life circumstances, yet the light of love and resilience, faith and hope, the family we inherit and the family that we choose are all lights to lead the way!

This book was released on May 14, 2024. I am thankful that author, publisher and NetGalley brought this unique novel to my very appreciative attention!

#Oye
#MelissaMogollon
#NetGalley