I enjoyed Xochitl Gonzalez’s Anita De Monte Laughs Last so much that I decided to read her first novel, Olga Dies Dreaming. At first, I wasn’t sure I was going to like this novel because of the problematic titular protagonist, but Olga, and the novel, grew on me, and I ended enjoying this story almost as much as Anita De Monte Laughs Last.

Olga Dies Dreaming is about two American siblings whose family is from Puerto Rico, Olga and her older brother Prieto. Olga is a wedding planner for rich, white New Yorkers, and she engages in shady business practices as she chases after money and clout. Prieto is a congressman and a gay man so deep in the closet because of his shame over their drug addict father dying of AIDS, that he is being blackmailed by a pair of rich, white developers to vote on legislation that works in their favour so they can gentrify the very Latinx neighbourhood that Olga and Prieto grew up in. I found myself initially put off by both Olga and Prieto, Olga because she is basically a criminal and Prieto because it’s 2017 in the novel, so you would think he wouldn’t be so terrified of being outed as gay.  

But once I began to learn about Olga and Prieto’s family, and how the spectre of their long absent mother, Blanca, dogs their footsteps, I began to feel sympathy for them. Olga and Prieto’s parents were both Young Lords before their father gave into his addictions and their mother abandoned her family to become a radical activist fighting for Puerto Rico’s independence. Even though Blanca isn’t there to raise her children, it doesn’t stop her from sending Olga and Prieto letters over the years that essentially berate them for their life choices. Blanca is not just a terrible mother, she is also a terrible person, acting like she’s sacrificed her life for a good cause, but the truth is she is a narcissist who has more pride in choosing herself over her family than in her activism. Her letters to her children seriously pissed me off.

Olga and Prieto have both grown up pining for their mother’s love that doesn’t exist, but when Hurricane Maria happens, Blanca unexpectedly re-enters their lives. What I truly appreciate about this novel is learning about the vibrant Puerto Rican diaspora in New York and about Puerto Rico itself, and the devastating effect of Hurricane Maria on the island. I must admit my shame in not realizing until now just how terribly Puerto Rico is treated by the US and how much of the territory’s infrastructure was destroyed by the hurricane. All I remember of Hurricane Maria was the Cheeto in Chief throwing paper towel rolls at people who had lost their homes.

So Olga Dies Dreaming is not just about a family with issues, it is also about political corruption, racism and how the so-called American Dream is policed by white people. But most importantly, Gonzalez’s novel is about what it means to be Puerto Rican in the US. Olga and Prieto both end up becoming better people than their mother will ever be, because they prove you can be an activist for your community and sacrifice yourself for the love your family.