Dreaming of You by Melissa Lozada-Oliva is a novel in verse that follows the storyline of the resurrection of Selena Quintanilla. It is broken down into four main parts; Part 1: Como La Flor Tanto Amor, Part 2: Me Marcho Hoy, Part 3: Yo Ser Perder, and Part 4: Como Me Duele, (dedications to Selena’s Music.) There is also a table of contents that includes a cast of characters, an epilogue, and alternative endings. Here is why you need to add this book to the top of your TBR List.Â
Dreaming of You was a Frankenstein-ed collection of some of her previous poems about zombie pop star Selena, and she needed to know the answer to the following question: “What would Selena do if she came back from the dead?” The result is Dreaming of You, an imaginative and challenging novel in verse. If that doesn’t grab your attention, I have listed some of my favorite poems — the titles alone should entice you to pick up this book:
- I’m Not a Virgin But
- Resurrecting SelenaÂ
- Selena and Me
- Hi, Uh, Hi, Hello, You’ve Reached MelissaÂ
- El Chisme According to Others: Yolanda at the Gay Bar
- Remember that Yolanda Was a Little Girl Once
- Dead Celebrity Prom
- Yolanda Wears Melissa’ Skin into Selena’s Hotel Room
- Hellraiser
Last November, I had the opportunity to attend a book reading featuring Dreaming of You. The reading was conducted through Green Apple Books in San Francisco California and hosted via Zoom Webinar.Â
Along with Lozada-Oliva’s reading, the webinar included an interview with a fellow poet and professor at the University of Stanford, Hieu Minh Nguyen. I have purchased his collection of poetry Not Here, which I would also recommend. She read Dead Celebrity Prom (one of my favorites), Yolanda leaves a Note, and Resurrecting Selena. In Dead Celebrity Prom. Melissa, the main character within the novel in verse (who Lozada-Oliva proclaims is a 25-year-old version of herself, but also a character named “Melissa,” which could have been Michele) attends a prom with many dead celebrities. When describing the entrance to the prom, she states, “even though you can’t kill the dead twice.” This line is a very powerful one, among many others as well.Â
Nguyen gave well-deserved expressions of congratulations to Lozada-Oliva throughout the webinar. She responded by saying, “I feel like the luckiest little bitch in the world.”Â
In addition, Lozada-Oliva professionally credits the MFA program at NYU for part of her success, along with her family. It was very interesting to hear how Lozada-Oliva’s family in a way worshiped Selena; it made her think more about the structures surrounding celebrity worship. Her family, primarily Latina women, uses gossip as a means of storytelling, which is also relevant in her literary work. I had never thought of gossip as a means of communication, let alone storytelling. Lozada-Oliva recognizes the dangers in it, but the messed-up communication brought her family and this novel together.Â
There is also an audio book narrated by Lozada-Oliva herself using animated voices, for those of you who are just too busy to read. I plan to listen to it as well. I hope that whether audio or physical book you decided to give this novel in verse a chance. Not only is it an interesting story, it explores multimedias, celebrity worship, and allows the reader to take part in this curious dream.Â