The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
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Penguin Putnam
Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd who—from the New Jersey home he shares with his old world mother and rebellious sister—dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love. But Oscar may never get what … More »
Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd who—from the New Jersey home he shares with his old world mother and rebellious sister—dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love. But Oscar may never get what
Penguin Putnam
Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd who—from the New Jersey home he shares with his old world mother and rebellious sister—dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love. But Oscar may never get what he wants. Blame the fukú—a curse that has haunted Oscar’s family for generations, following them on their epic journey from Santo Domingo to the USA. Encapsulating Dominican-American history, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao opens our eyes to an astonishing vision of the contemporary American experience and explores the endless human capacity to persevere—and risk it all—in the name of love.
Listen to Junot Díaz’s interview on iTunes “Meet the Author” here.
Download iTunes here.
Baker & Taylor
Living with an Old World mother and rebellious sister, an urban New Jersey misfit dreams of becoming the next J.R.R. Tolkien and believes that a longstanding family curse is thwarting his efforts to find love and happiness.
Baker
& Taylor
Living with an old-world mother and rebellious sister, an urban New Jersey misfit dreams of becoming the next J. R. R. Tolkien and believes that a long-standing family curse is thwarting his efforts to find love and happiness. A first novel by the author of the collection,Drown. Reprint.
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Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd who—from the New Jersey home he shares with his old world mother and rebellious sister—dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love. But Oscar may never get what he wants. Blame the fukú—a curse that has haunted Oscar’s family for generations, following them on their epic journey from Santo Domingo to the USA. Encapsulating Dominican-American history, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao opens our eyes to an astonishing vision of the contemporary American experience and explores the endless human capacity to persevere—and risk it all—in the name of love.
Listen to Junot Díaz’s interview on iTunes “Meet the Author” here.
Download iTunes here.
Baker & Taylor
Living with an Old World mother and rebellious sister, an urban New Jersey misfit dreams of becoming the next J.R.R. Tolkien and believes that a longstanding family curse is thwarting his efforts to find love and happiness.
Baker
& Taylor
Living with an old-world mother and rebellious sister, an urban New Jersey misfit dreams of becoming the next J. R. R. Tolkien and believes that a long-standing family curse is thwarting his efforts to find love and happiness. A first novel by the author of the collection,
Imprint:
New York - Riverhead Books
Pages:
339
Edition:
1st Riverhead trade paperback ed
ISBN:
9781594483295, 1594483299
Language:
English
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references
Statement of responsibility:
Junot Daz
Characteristics:
339, [1] p. ;,21 cm.
Author (Original Script):
Daz, Junot
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Add a CommentI loved this book! Through it you discover the true colors of Oscar, an overweight nerd who adores science fiction, but who has really bad luck in love, besides his family issues. You fall in love with him, feel sorry for him, you want to help him... A really nice story to read, even though it's sad.
A very honest and critical look at ethnic identity and race relations, and definitely one of my favourites. Better than most of the wishy washy 'multicultural' drivel they make us read at university.
This was a fantastic, deeply personal, and rhythmically riveting piece of literature. It's lack of pretentiousness was incredibly refreshing. It was frustrating from time to time to have no knowledge of Spanish, but I only blame myself. Read this book.
As the 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction, Junot Diaz falls into an elite category of authors that includes Jhumpa Lahiri, Jeffrey Eugenides and Richard Russo. I have to admit, though, that The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao fell short of the mark; while I appreciated artistry of the novel, I didn't particularly enjoy it. In the first 50 pages, Diaz introduces Oscar, the obese, nerdy and entirely unlikable protagonist. It's a dry beginning but the book does improve when it delves into the lives of Oscar's sister, mother, grandparents and friends. As well as a family saga, the novel chronicles the era of the oppressive reign of Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. While the book successfully (and sometimes humourously) weaves together themes of identity, love, loss and fate, I found it gratuitously vulgar and uncaptivating. And as for its underlying question: how much suffering is love worth? I certainly wouldn't heed the advice of any of its characters!
I loved this book! It was an intense read but well worth it. I found the history of the De Leon family and the fuku (curse) that generations of them had to deal with endlessly fascinating. I also found myself wanting to learn more about Dominican history and the dictator Trujillo. Highly recommended!