Oye Book Review
Oye
by Melissa Mogollon
Ginasbookreport Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Literature / Fiction / Humor
Read This If You Love: The Guncle by Steven Rowley / The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
“Pain! Beauty! Resilience! And silicone! All tightly packed in one.”
Oye by Melissa Mogollon is a masterpiece of a humorous coming-of-age story with a twist. Luciana (Nana) is entering her last year of high school and is balancing figuring out who she is, being accepted, adjusting to her sister living away at college, and navigating her quirky family and their love. The book is a lovely, funny, touching tale of a young woman coming into her own voice and learning lessons from her fearless grandmother—a character readers are sure to love and NEVER forget. Oye opens with the quote
“Entre broma y broma, la verdad se asoma.”
roughly…
“Many a true word is spoken in jest.”—Everyone’s Mother
That quote sums up this novel so well. Nana pulls no punches with her words and even when those words sound harsh, they are said with love, wit, and humor. Oye will have you laughing out loud at Nana’s honesty about her feelings and the events in her family. Told via one-sided dialogue of phone conversations with her sister Mari, it was a unique way to tell a first-person story. The words fly off the page and, before you know it, you have consumed the entire book. Nana’s relationship with her Abue and her sister and mother is as touching as it is humorous. As a reader, I loved getting to know these characters and the exposure to Columbian culture. A lovely debut novel from a writer I look forward to reading in the future.
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