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Loading... The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (original 2007; edition 2007)by Junot Diaz
Work InformationThe Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (2007)
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This book was okay because it was written in a cool style and reasonable fast paced. The plot wasn't really impressive, and the constant use of Spanish phrases that I didn't know was really frustrating. I would only recommend it if you speak Spanish. ( ) My feelings on this book are complicated but also super easy to explain: I think it's probably brilliant for a lot of readers, I think Diaz is a fantastic writer, and I completely understand all of his techniques, and I think they are used masterfully... but I didn't enjoy it at all. Which is just to say, this book and I are not compatible. I think it is very good if it suits. I wanted to like this book more than I did. I could see on an intellectually level what was being done. The contrast that's drawn between Oscar, the decidedly irregular Dominican man, and Yunior, the clear authorial stand-in and ultimate player is engaging at times. Clearly there's a lot to uncover there about masculinity, stereotypes and expectations, but I just wasn't that into the language and the voice, particularly the chapters narrated by Yunior. Glad I finally read it though, it is interesting even if I didn't necessarily enjoy it all the way through. I was a bit disappointed in this book, as its Pulitzer had raised my expectations. But I never really became invested in any of the characters, save Beli during her back story. It's also worth noting that anyone planning to read this should have a Spanish dictionary close by while reading; there are an abundance of phrases I didn't understand. Maybe I'd have enjoyed it a little more if I had! It has elements that appeal to me, but there are two big problems with the novel from my perspective. The narrative voice became more grating as the story went on; strong in machismo and a tone of ironic distance, Yunior’s voice was not the voice to tell this story for me. How much this is affected by the controversy surrounding Díaz’s own behavior and a sense that this voice is how Díaz likes to see himself, as a Don Juan who sees himself a bit above it all, I’m not sure, but I feel I would have enjoyed the novel more told in Oscar’s voice. There’s a reason the novel isn’t called The Continuing Irritating Life of Yunior. Secondly the novel’s structure impeded my enjoyment. This is a personal preference to be sure, but in general I prefer not to hop around between characters and time periods back and forth, forth and back, in lengthy sections. In some novels it works great but generally I like a more time linear construction.
Díaz’s novel also has a wild, capacious spirit, making it feel much larger than it is. Within its relatively compact span, “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” contains an unruly multitude of styles and genres. The tale of Oscar’s coming-of-age is in some ways the book’s thinnest layer, a young-adult melodrama draped over a multigenerational immigrant family chronicle that dabbles in tropical magic realism, punk-rock feminism, hip-hop machismo, post-postmodern pyrotechnics and enough polymorphous multiculturalism to fill up an Introduction to Cultural Studies syllabus. It is Mr. Díaz’s achievement in this galvanic novel that he’s fashioned both a big picture window that opens out on the sorrows of Dominican history, and a small, intimate window that reveals one family’s life and loves. In doing so, he’s written a book that decisively establishes him as one of contemporary fiction’s most distinctive and irresistible new voices. Belongs to Publisher SeriesIs contained inHas as a student's study guideAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
Things have never been easy for Oscar, a sweet but disastrously overweight, lovesick Dominican ghetto nerd. From his home in New Jersey, where he lives with his old-world mother and rebellious sister, Oscar 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 Fukœ-the curse that has haunted Oscar's family for generations, dooming them to prison, torture, tragic accidents, and, above all, ill-starred love. Oscar, still waiting for his first kiss, is just its most recent victim. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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