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The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
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The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

by Junot Diaz

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2,978139798 (3.9)188
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English (134)  Spanish (1)  Dutch (1)  Swedish (1)  French (1)  Danish (1)  All languages (139)
Showing 1-5 of 134 (next | show all)
This novel tells the story of Oscar De Leon (I'll let you read the novel to learn how he gets the nickname Wao), a Dominican-American growing up in 1980's New Jersey. He's no ordinary boy as he's overweight, enamored with science fiction and role-playing games, and a talented writer determined to become the "Dominican Tolkien." The references comic books and gaming terms are about the same level of confusing as the colloquial Spanish sprinkled through the book. He's also terminally lovelorn, unable to find a girl who will return his affection and devotion.

Despite such a compelling title character, much of this novel is about his family with sections devoted to his attractive and popular sister, Oscar and Lola's mother Belicia who was also tragically naive in matters of love, and Belicia's father Abelard a successful doctor who meets a grizzly fate. The overarching theme of the book is the fuku - or curse - that lies upon the De Leon family, and the menacing, omnipresence of Trujillo, the dictator whose cruel reign bloodied the Dominican Republic from 1930-1961. The novel is full of lengthy footnotes about the Trujillo Era that are almost as compelling as the main text

Much of the novel is narrated by Yunior, Oscar's college roommate, who attempts to befriend Oscar out of love for Lola but comes to respect Oscar for himself. Other portions are narrated by Lola and perhaps a third-person narrator. I think I would have liked the book even better if Oscar played more of a role in the story and the reader could hear his voice more directly. The structure of the novel does work well though, unfolding different portions of the De Leon family curse in a non-linear form. ( )
Othemts | Jul 7, 2009 |  
In many ways the book was the story of the misery which extends through generations once instigated, in this case by violent dictatorship. It was also the story of the struggle to find home and love once it's been lost. That struggle is pursued in various different ways by different characters, Oscar being the most direct. It was written in a very colloquial English/Spanish. An excellent book with a story that captured my interest. ( )
snash | Jul 4, 2009 |  
[The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao], by Junot Diaz.

So, I finally finished The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. The Prologue was off-putting. All that tiny print about people I have never heard of (which should have been educational, but didn't really sink in...) and Spanish phrases thrown in (huh?) everywhere. This chica doesn’t ablo and I felt a lot of key points were made in Spanish and I missed them all! The story is weird and depressing, and told in three voices, no four -- I forgot the unidentified Prologue voice. Okay, well it is identified, but only much later. Did I learn anything about the Dominican Republic during this time period? Yes, but I would have rather read a textbook. The only reason I finished the darn thing was so I wouldn’t be a slacker in my book group. STOP. Skip the next paragraph if you don’t want the ending spoiled.

The characters all have tragic lives. There’s no real redemption at the end. Oscar finally finds “true love” and then dies for it. On second thought, it’s not really a spoiler: Oscar has a “Brief Wondrous Life,” remember? It says so in the title.

Spoiler over…There’s lots of crude language. The prominent family in the story is haunted by a fukú, which I guess means they are cursed, or fu**ed as the case may be. That’s how I felt having to read this book. Put me in a right bad mood. Normally I only give a one-star for books I don’t finish, and I did actually finish this, but it still gets only one star because I was so irritated by it. ( )
Berly | Jun 26, 2009 |  
heartbreaking book. the sadness just oozed off the pages. ( )
amanaceerdh | Jun 26, 2009 |  
When I began reading this I didn't expect to finish it. The angst of a teenage boy, told in crude language and sprinkled liberally with Spanish slang and idioms, didn't appeal to me at all. However, since it won a Pulitzer and has been widely praised I decided to read a few chapters before closing it, and I'm so glad I did.

It's weird to say this in light of what I wrote above, but this is one beautifully written book. The language is lilting, and the dialogue so natural the characters jump out at the reader. It's easy to imagine this read aloud. The time jumps are a little hard to follow, probably because I know little of Dominican history. Otherwise, my overall reaction: WOW! ( )
auntmarge64 | Jun 23, 2009 |  
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Series (with order)
Canonical Title
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Awards and honors
Epigraph
Of what import are brief, nameless lives . . . to Galactus?? (Fantastic Four, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Vol. 1, No. 49, April 1966)
Christ have mercy on all sleeping things!
From that dog rotting down Wrightson Road
to when I was a dog on these streets;
if loving these islands must be my load,
out of corruption my soul takes wings,
But they had started to poison my soul
with their big house, big car, bit-time hbohl,
coolie, nigger, Syrian, and French Creole,
so I leave it for them and their carnival--
I taking a sea-bath, I gone down the road.
I know these islands from Monos to Nassau,
a rusty head sailor with sea-green eyes
that they nickname Shabine, the patois for
any red nigger, and I, Shabine, saw
when these slums of empire was paradise.
I'm just a red nigger who love the sea,
I had a sound colonial education,
I have Dutch, nigger, and English in me,
and either I'm nobody, or I'm a nation.
(Derek Walcott)
Dedication
Elizabeth de Leon
First words
They say it came first from Africa, carried in the screams of the enslaved; that it was the death bane of the Tainos, uttered just as one world perished and another began; that it was a demon drawn into Creation through the nightmare door that was cracked open in the Antilles.
Quotations
You wanna smoke?
I might partake. Just a little though. I would not want to cloud my faculties.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Book description
From book cover: Things have never been easy for Osca, a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd, a New Jersey romantic who dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, of finding love. But he may never get what he wants, thanks to the fukú--the ancient curse that has haunted Oscar's family for generations, dooming them to prison, torture, tragic accidents, and, above all, ill-starred love. Oscar, still dreaming of his first kiss, is only its most recent victim--until the fateful summer that he decides to be its last.

With dazzling energy and insight, Junot Diaz immerses us in the uproarious lives of our hero Oscar, his runaway sisger Lola, and their ferocious beauty-queen mother Belicia, and in the family's epic journey from Santo Domingo to Washington Heights to NewJersey's Bergenline and back again. Rendered with uncommon warmth and humor, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao presents an astonishing vision of the contemporary American experience and the endless human capacity to persevere--and to risk all--in the name of love.

Amazon.com (ISBN 0143142801, Audio CD)

Amazon Best of the Month, September 2007: It's been 11 years since Junot Díaz's critically acclaimed story collection, Drown, landed on bookshelves and from page one of his debut novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, any worries of a sophomore jinx disappear. The titular Oscar is a 300-pound-plus "lovesick ghetto nerd" with zero game (except for Dungeons & Dragons) who cranks out pages of fantasy fiction with the hopes of becoming a Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien. The book is also the story of a multi-generational family curse that courses through the book, leaving troubles and tragedy in its wake. This was the most dynamic, entertaining, and achingly heartfelt novel I've read in a long time. My head is still buzzing with the memory of dozens of killer passages that I dog-eared throughout the book. The rope-a-dope narrative is funny, hip, tragic, soulful, and bursting with desire. Make some room for Oscar Wao on your bookshelf--you won't be disappointed. --Brad Thomas Parsons

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:17 -0400)

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