The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao | Junot Díaz

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao | Junot Díaz | Makes you Wonder into your childhood!

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The Brief Wondrous...

	The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Díaz Riverhead Trade, 2008 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 268 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

fantastic and surprising

as a white, jewish guy, who grew up in Brooklyn, and consorted with Latinos of all backgrounds, it was wonderful to get an inside perspective on their experience both in America and back at home. I homogenize the experience, though in this book it's strictly Dominican, because America's involvement in Latin America was, sadly, mostly the same as it was in the DR, and therefore, many L. Amer immigrants story was quite similar. Both the fictional account of Oscar and his family and friends, and the Junot's editorials account of the horrendous dictator, Trujillo, were thoroughly engaging and written in a very contemporary, relevant prose. I highly recommend this book

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Makes you Wonder into your childhood!

I haven't read a book since the last Harry Potter and this is the book that my friends bragged about soooo much that I had to pick it up and WOW! As a hispanic I can relate to everything he said in this book 100% and as a non-hispanic this book gives you an insight into our culture. I love how Junot Diaz sneaks in the history parts within the sentences, I learned more about the Dominican history from this book than I remember learning while in school. I recommend this book for many reasons and EVERYONE would enjoy this book - Just Amazing!

I've always maintained...

...that a writer has to possess a certain 'arrogance' in order to write a novel. Because it requires so much effort just to complete one, you simply HAVE TO have this arrogance, this belief, this oomph, this chutzpah, this force, to make it all happen.

'Oscar Wao' is a perfect example of a novel being an expression of one writer's 'arrogance'. It is as -seemingly- effortless a display of storytelling intent as I have come across in such a long time. Granted, as it was written in the first-person singular, it automatically has a certain self-confidence to it, its own verve...but it's more than just the perspective that propels it along to its conclusion. It is quite a marvel to consume.

It is, however, not without its flaws. While it is a masterful display of storytelling, it's not as cohesive as I would have liked...and as a white-bread gringo with absolutely no background in much of anything Spanish, I concede that much of the non-English references were lost on me. (However, my faith in Mr. Diaz was such that I took what was presented each time at face-value, and didn't feel overly slighted, even approaching the end of the tome.)

The term 'tour de force' is sometimes thrown about cavalierly. In this instance, its use is completely warranted. Kudos to the author. Would that more writers showed 'arrogance' of the variety displayed so wonderfully here.

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Melancholy

I finally read this book after so many recommendations and good reviews piled up. I was no disappointed; it's a poignant story about the life and history of a family, enough to rival any family-tree type saga in unluckiness, disappointment, luck, and love.

Ultimately, it was the melancholia of the novel that got me, that left me thoughtful and heavy for days after I finished. You'll laugh (especially if you comprehend the myriad fantasy/comic book/sci fi references -- I did and couldn't get enough) and you'll cry, but ultimately I think it's worth it.

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