Book: Olga Dies Dreaming
Author: Xochitl Gonzalez
Publisher: Flatiron Books (flatironbooks.com)
Release Date: January 4, 2022
This book was one of my Book of the Month picks for December 2021. The cover and the description intrigued me immediately, so I was excited to read it, especially after seeing it get so much attention upon release!
Summary: Olga Acevedo and her brother Pietro grew up in Brooklyn, raised by their grandmother and an ensemble of aunts and uncles after their mother, a radical Puerto Rican nationalist, left them to further "the cause." Now grown, Olga is a wedding planner for the Manhattan elite, while Pietro serves his community as a member of Congress. It's 2017, and Puerto Rico is being battered by hurricane season and coveted by American developers, bringing Olga and Pietro's mother back into their lives. This is a story of identity, tragedy, love, and family secrets.
My Thoughts: I'm glad I read this book. It was a moving portrait of family, community, and identity, exploring Puerto Rico's complicated relationship with the U.S. government throughout history. The characters were complex and layered, and the settings and culture were vividly depicted. This book tackled gentrification, political corruption, radicalism, homophobia, family relationships and more. Topically, it was informative and compelling. I was impressed with Gonzalez's ability to weave important historical and cultural context into the story in a logical way. I didn't know nearly enough about Puerto Rico before reading this book, so I appreciated learning in a way that enhanced the story. I also thought that the use of letters from Olga and Pietro's mother was an effective way to show her influence throughout the story, even though we only met her character once towards the end.
Olga and Pietro's family were fun characters, and the family scenes brought some levity to a book full of challenging subject matter. I also really enjoyed seeing Olga and Matteo's relationship unfold, as well as seeing Pietro grapple with his identity on multiple levels. Gonzalez's ability to strike the balance between broad political issues and the characters' personal development is impressive.
Though this book was enjoyable in many ways, it wasn't perfect. The pacing was pretty slow at the start, and by the halfway point I felt that I was still getting a lot of exposition. The second half picked up quite a bit. I also found the writing off-putting at times — there were a lot of sentence fragments, to the point that it shifted from stylistically effective to distracting (for me, at least).
Despite a few issues I had with the pacing and the writing style, there was never a point when I didn't want to finish this book. The overall story was fascinating and educational, and Gonzalez did a good job of balancing the challenging topics with more hopeful developments. The ending wrapped things up nicely, bringing a satisfying conclusion for the characters while still leaving the larger topical questions open-ended. I'd definitely recommend this book!
Rating: 4.25/5