Let’s get something out of the way immediately: “Olga Dies Dreaming” is set in Brooklyn … Still, there’s lots for Chicagoans to love in this far-reaching tale about gentrification, family trauma, and Puerto Rican identity.
Perhaps that’s why the Chicago Public Library picked “Olga Dies Dreaming” for One Book, One Chicago. The program aims to get Chicagoans on the same page — literally — and culminates tonight with author Xochitl Gonzalez at Harold Washington Library.
My own book club took part in One Book, One Chicago, and today I’m proud to present Hey Chicago’s first-ever book report.
What Is ‘Olga Dies Dreaming’ About?
The year is 2017, and Olga Acevedo is one of New York City’s most sought-after wedding planners. She’s hot, tough-as-nails, and caters to the elite with relatable cynicism.
Her brother Prieto is also hyper-successful: a congressman who runs on a common-man image, though he’s got skeletons in his political closet ...
Both siblings’ careers are a far cry from their troubled upbringing in Sunset Park. Their parents were former Young Lords, with their mother eventually leaving to pursue revolution in her ancestral home, Puerto Rico.
When Hurricane Maria hits there, both siblings confront their connection to her — and to Puerto Rico. Also, Olga learns to let her guard down for love. (Of course.)
Key Themes
Not everyone walks around constantly weighing their obligation to dismantle colonialism. But, informed by their mother’s leftist politics, Olga and Prieto do. The result is a lot of guilt, particularly for Olga, who opts for her own glitzy American Dream. At least at first.
🚨 Spoiler alert: She amends that dream for a humbler life in Sunset Park, where her manic pixie landlord-boyfriend curbs gentrification.
Meanwhile, Puerto Rico undergoes its own changes in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. “Olga Dies Dreaming” acutely presents not only the physical devastation, but the federal government’s failure to help and corporate interests vying for land.
The Chicago Connection
The most direct reference to Chicago in “Olga Dies Dreaming” is the Acevedo parents’ history as Young Lords. The far-left activist group arose from a Puerto Rican street gang in Lincoln Park in 1959.
Led by José “Cha Cha” Jiménez, the Young Lords allied with Black Panthers to fight Mayor Richard J. Daley’s racist vision for urban renewal, staging occupations, sit-ins, and garbage-dumping protests. The Young Lords eventually expanded to East Harlem in 1969.
“Olga Dies Dreaming” also maintains a spiritual through line to Chicago, I think, as the characters reflect on the transformation of their own beloved neighborhood.
Similar Titles
“Olga Dies Dreaming” pays loving homage to Brooklyn’s Sunset Park. Set in Chicago, these fiction and non-fiction titles paint similarly detailed neighborhood portraits:
- Edgewater: “The Old Neighborhood” by Bill Hillmann
- Pilsen: “Painted Cities” by Alexai Galaviz-Budziszewski
- Wicker Park: “Night Moves” by Jessica Hopper
- Bronzeville: “Last Summer on State Street” by Toya Wolfe
- Bronzeville: “Ghosts in the Schoolyard” by Eve L. Ewing
- Citywide: “The Chicago Neighborhood Guidebook” edited by Martha Bayne
