OLGA DIES DREAMING
It's 2017, and Olga and her brother, Pedro “Prieto” Acevedo, are boldfaced names in their hometown of New York. Prieto is a popular congressman representing their gentrifying Latinx neighborhood in Brooklyn, while Olga is the tony wedding planner for Manhattan’s power brokers.
Despite their alluring public lives, behind closed doors things are far less rosy. Sure, Olga can orchestrate the love stories of the 1 percent but she can’t seem to find her own. . . until she meets Matteo, who forces her to confront the effects of long-held family secrets.
Olga and Prieto’s mother, Blanca, a Young Lord turned radical, abandoned her children to advance a militant political cause, leaving them to be raised by their grandmother. Now, with the winds of hurricane season, Blanca has come barreling back into their lives.
Set against the backdrop of New York City in the months surrounding the most devastating hurricane in Puerto Rico’s history, Xochitl Gonzalez’s Olga Dies Dreaming is a story that examines political corruption, familial strife, and the very notion of the American dream—all while asking what it really means to weather a storm.
Xóchitl González’s OLGA DIES DREAMING is certainly an ambitious fiction debut. This book battles with the age-old dilemma of what is best for the individual versus what is best for the collective. There were many things I felt were great about this book. Frustratingly, the not-so-great things made this book a real slog to read at times.
My favourite thing in this book was the fascinating relationship between 40-something siblings Olga and Prieto, and their absent-for-27-years mother, Blanca. Imagine this: Your mother abandons you during your youth to join an underground militant cause. In the intervening years, her only communication is one-way traffic in the form of letters sent irregularly that offer advice, provide criticism and make demands. Blanca knows when and which buttons to push, and she does so irrespective of the impact to her children. It’s no wonder that Olga and Prieto are not the well-adjusted, successful adults they outwardly appear to be.
I also liked the way the author portrays all her characters – the good, the ignorant and the monstrous. The family dynamics showed strong familial bonds even in the face of great disappointment or everyday bickering.
What didn’t work for me was how the author wove Puerto Rico into the story. It’s a significant plot driver but I felt the author assumed too much knowledge. This book was a start/stop affair because I was often researching, trying to sort fact from fiction. Frustratingly, it’s not until very late in the book that the author offers a concise history of Puerto Rico. If I had this information much earlier in the book it would have made for an entirely different, and much more pleasurable, reading experience.
Do I recommend this book? It’s a cautious yes. I would advise readers to jump to the 80%-ish mark to read Blanca’s letter dated May 20, 2016 for the short history lesson before starting.
Review copy courtesy of Netgalley and Flatiron Books.
Xochitl Gonzalez has an MFA from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow and recipient of the Michener-Copernicus Prize in Fiction. She was the winner of the 2019 Disquiet Literary Prize and her work has been published on Bustle, Vogue, and The Cut. She is a contributor to The Atlantic, where her weekly newsletter Brooklyn, Everywhere explores gentrification of people and places. Her debut novel Olga Dies Dreaming was published in January ’22 by Flatiron Books. Prior to beginning her MFA, Xochitl was an entrepreneur and strategic consultant for nearly 15 years. She serves on the Board of the Lower East Side Girls Club. A native Brooklynite and proud public school graduate, she received her B.A. in Fine Art from Brown University. She lives in her hometown of Brooklyn with her dog, Hectah Lavoe.
http://www.xochitlgonzalez.com/
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