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  • Published: 18 January 2022
  • ISBN: 9781662600593
  • Imprint: Astra Publishing House
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 192
  • RRP: $55.00
Categories:

Dreaming of You

A Novel in Verse




"A feverish story of young adulthood, exploring how fandom and obsession shape how we relate to the world . . . Dreaming of You navigates the complexities of Latinx identity, self-loathing, love, and the loneliness of drifting into adulthood." —Miguel Salazar, Vulture

"At the center of this exploration of insecurities, joys, and identity stands Melissa Lozada-Oliva—an unapologetic poet who isn’t afraid of the rawness of the mind and is resilient in her writing— so much so that it feels like we’re talking to our best friend." —Bianca Pérez, Porter House Review

A macabre novel in verse of loss, longing, and identity crises following a poet who resurrects pop star Selena from the dead.

Melissa Lozada-Oliva's Dreaming of You is an absurd yet heartfelt examination of celebrity worship.
 
A young Latinx poet grappling with loneliness and heartache decides one day to bring Tejano pop star Selena Quintanilla back to life. The séance kicks off an uncanny trip narrated by a Greek chorus of gossiping spirits as she journeys through a dead celebrity prom, encounters her shadow self, and performs karaoke in hell.
 
In visceral poems embodying millennial angst, paragraph-long conversations overheard at her local coffeeshop, and unhinged Twitter rants, Lozada-Oliva reveals an eerie, sometimes gruesome, yet moving love story.
 
Playfully morbid and profoundly candid, an interrogation of Latinidad, womanhood, obsession, and disillusionment, Dreaming of You grapples with the cost of being seen for your truest self.

  • Published: 18 January 2022
  • ISBN: 9781662600593
  • Imprint: Astra Publishing House
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 192
  • RRP: $55.00
Categories:

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Praise for Dreaming of You

"Like pop stardom, Melissa Lozada-Oliva’s Dreaming of You is all truth and all fiction, all at once; something we imagined and something we survived, the same way a girl we’re in love with is a girl we made up. I’m talking about both Selena and Melissa, I’m talking about Melissa the protagonist and Melissa the author, I’m talking about ghosts and heroes and ex-lovers and ourselves. Mostly, I’m saying that this collection, a macabre carnival, heals reality by distorting it, calls memory what it is: a funhouse, a roomful of mirrors where you can’t tell if the person you made out with was your crush or yourself, to which Lozada-Oliva shrugs and says, What's the difference?" —Olivia Gatwood, author of Life of the Party "Dazzling, playful, and likely to break your heart at least twice. I love Dreaming of You five-hundred times as much as I hate writing blurbs. Melissa Lozada-Oliva is a magician.” —Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble "Thank god for Melissa Lozada-Oliva! Dreaming of You is a mystical, hungry, thumping heart; it's funny and haunting and will be alive long after we are all dead and gone." —Catherine Cohen, comedian and co-host of Seek Treatment "Dreaming of You is as warm and frank as your big sister giving you the real sex talk. It understands perfectly the singular agony of girlhood. To read it is to fall in love—with Selena, with the author, with all the unbound violent joy of which only girls are capable." —Rax King, author of Tacky