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2022

Format:	Large Print, Book
Author:	Gonzalez, Xochitl, 1977- author.
Title:	Olga dies dreaming / Xochitl Gonzalez.
Edition:	Large print edition.
Publisher, Date:	Waterville, ME : Thorndike Press, a part of Gale, a Cengage Company, 2022. ©2021
Description:	645 pages (large print) ; 23 cm. large print (16 point)
Summary:	"Olga and her brother, Pedro "Prieto" Acevedo, are bold-faced 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 powerbrokers. 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, Blanca, a Young Lord turned radical, abandoned her children, leaving them to be raised by their grandmother. Now, with the winds of hurricane season, Blanca has come barreling back into their lives"-- Back cover.
Subjects:	Hispanic Americans -- Fiction. Mother and child -- Fiction. Family secrets -- Fiction. Political activists -- Fiction. Identity (Psychology) -- Fiction. Hurricane Maria, 2017 -- Fiction. Large type books. Brothers and sisters -- Fiction. New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction.
Notes:	Subtitle from cover.
ISBN:	9781432893910 (large print ; hardcover) 1432893912 (large print ; hardcover)
OCLC:	1298715474
System Availability:	2
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# Local items:	1
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Library Journal Review

Of Puerto Rican heritage, Olga Acevedo is a wedding planner to the rich and powerful while brother Pedro ("Prieto") serves their gentrifying Latinx neighborhood as congressman in their hometown, New York. Maybe, just maybe, Olga has finally found a love of her own, but then the mother who deserted the siblings years ago to pursue her increasingly radical beliefs crashes back into their lives. With a 300,000-copy first printing; Iowa Writers' Workshop graduate Gonzalez won the Michener-Copernicus Fellowship.

Publishers Weekly Review

Gonzalez's edifying debut follows a successful Puerto Rican Brooklynite with family baggage that increasingly disrupts her life. Olga, 40, a wedding planner and frequent guest on morning TV shows, rubs shoulders--and sometimes more--with her wealthy, powerful clients. Her older brother, Prieto, who is secretly gay, has risen through the local political ranks to become a U.S. congressman who represents their Sunset Park neighborhood. The siblings' beloved papí, once a charismatic activist for Puerto Rican independence, fell into heroin addiction and died when Olga was still a teen, and their mamí remained true to the cause, leaving her children to work with a covert paramilitary group. Olga does not know, but Prieto has been the victim of blackmail for years by a couple of real estate moguls with whom she is acquainted, who've made a killing off their Puerto Rican community in Brooklyn. Details about their papí's life and tragic death, as well as his blackmailers' sinister intentions in Puerto Rico, add poignancy to Prieto's troubles, and each sibling faces a crisis of conscience when Hurricane Maria hits and their mamí issues a dubious ultimatum. The expository dialogue often feels stilted, but the characters' yearning to see the island thrive adds passion and complexity. Gonzalez elevates this family drama with a great deal of insight on the characters' diaspora and politics. (Jan.)

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