Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez

“Revolution can not happen on the terms of the oppressor”

I don’t know why Olga Dies Dreaming is so hard for me to write. Maybe it’s because I needed a therapy session afterwards.

TW: Rape, drug abuse, suicide, LGBTQ abuse. SPOILER ALERT !!!

Olga is the justice warrior queen we all need. She is relatable to a fault. But most of us are. To be perfect is a dream in itself, I have worked very hard to educate myself on many topics. Learning through this novel about Puerto Rico and its American history - specifically, its potential genocide, was eye opening.

Olga Dies Dreaming starts with a distinction between rich and poor based on their napkin selections at their weddings. It easily rides into a multifaceted story about two Puerto Rican siblings living out their separate lives - each heavily impacted by the words of their activist mother. One an upper-class wedding planner, the other a congressman. Each face their own unique struggles in life defined by their identities.

Olga deals with the trauma of life like true fighter. From parental trauma to the general trauma of being a women and women of color. She is faced with her activist mother leaving her family at a young age and then her addict father dying from AIDS years later. Following this she has to field the harassment of her mom, while trying to make her way, and understand her place as a New York City wedding planner. At this point she is presented with some serious ethical dilemas that honestly never should have been presented to her in the first place, but they were. There is so much to unpack here, which is difficult without giving too much away. Olga’s story is a story of independence and learning.

My history in regards to Puerto Rico, is honestly weak at best, and I apologize in advance. But I have to be honest, my recollection of the atrocities that happened to Puerto Rico are so, so, so, weak. I remember hurricane Maria… and then hurricane Irma and thinking, that’s terrible. Then, in the midst of a horrific presidential candidacy, being appalled by Trump’s ability to make this atrocity feel like a sporting event by throwing needed goods at helpless people, as if he’s at a basketball game. But, I knew so little about how even in September of 2021, 71% of the 63 billion sent to Puerto Rico had yet to be received to the island of Archipelago. That is FOUR YEARS later.

Ulga might not have been a social justice warrior in her mothers eyes, but she is one in mine.

- Jess