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The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao | 
| Author: Junot Diaz
Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $13.24
You Save: $11.71 (47%)
New (55) Used (37) Collectible (14) from $13.24
Rating:  155 reviews
Sales Rank: 64
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.6 x 5.8 x 2.1
ISBN: 1594489580
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9781594489587
ASIN: 1594489580
Publication Date: September 6, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
Amazon Best of the Month, September 2007: It's been 11 years since Junot Diaz'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
Product Description
This is the long-awaited first novel from one of the most original and memorable writers working today.
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 Fukoe-the curse that has haunted the 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.
Daz immerses us in the tumultuous life of Oscar and the history of the family at large, rendering with genuine warmth and dazzling energy, humor, and insight the Dominican-American experience, and, ultimately, the endless human capacity to persevere in the face of heartbreak and loss. A true literary triumph, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao confirms Junot Daz as one of the best and most exciting voices of our time.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 45 more reviews...
Derogative Spanish words July 17, 2008
kam (austin)
A reader with knowledge of Spanish will find this book more enjoyable then I. The Spanish sentences, terms & descriptions were foreign and distracted my reading pleasure. Spanish words were on every page. I did not know what an Abeula was so did not understand with whom Lola was staying with until pages later. I'm not sure if La Inka is a term or proper name. Why was there so much Spanish? I did not understand parting words, what was said to the burned girl etc. Furthermore many were slang Spanish so even a dictionary will not give a full meaning to a non Spanish reader. The author certainly has an excellent English vocabulary. I can accept some Spanish words for effect or because they fit well but many times they were an annoying chore to deal with that interrupted the story and did not add to my reading enjoyment. As our country becomes more Hispanic will I come to understand more? But keep reading, the book gets better.
The author's forays into Dominion Republic history left me wanting more facts and details, without which my understanding was very incomplete. But hated the small footnotes as they left me still confused. Jerald Diamond in Collapse writes a short summary of Haiti and Dominion Republic so at least I understood the Haitians were considered a lower class & migrated for work.. I did get a feel for the culture by the books end.
The story is good. The time periods jump around a bit but the story comes together. It was a fun enjoyable story with good characters. A little crazy on the beating up but maybe that is part of the character of the people living in the Dominican republic. I certainly would not want to be a woman in this culture. Not much respect, with limited male selection of any value. But there is seldom time for pity, the story moves.
 Not bad, dude, but a Poolitzer?? July 14, 2008
Paul S. Jellinek (New Jersey)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Yo, dude, the book got a Poolitzer, right? So you figure it's gotta be pretty good. But after reading the whole thing, I'm thinking that maybe the Poolitzer committee, whoever that is, maybe only read the first fifty pages and then figured the rest of it must be just as good, because, you know, they still had a lot of other books to get through before making the Big Decision. And yeah, I agree, the first fifty pages are great. I mean you can see the dude's got talent, right? But he's like one of them guys that gets the gold on the 50 yard dash trying to run a 26K marathon. I mean, the dude runs out of gas, sabe? I mean that whole business where Lola, the sister, becomes the narrator: bogus. And the mother's story back in the DR? Even boguser. I mean the footnotes area cute idea, but after a while even that gets old. Maybe that's the problem. Maybe it's not so much that he runs out of gas as that he's using the same gimmicks over and over and over and after a while, the novelty wears off. Reminds me of a lot of Vonnegut's stuff: great sprint out of the gate, but barely makes it to the finish line. As for Oscar, I sort of felt sorry for him, I even kinda liked him, you know, especially in the beginning, but by the time I got to the end, I realized I really didn't care what happened to him. Sorry, Yunior. I really wanted to, you know?
 Worthy of the Prize July 14, 2008
Loves the View (Hawaii)
A common theme of novels on the immigrant experience is the success or failure of achieving in America or blending in with the culture. Here the focus in not the American experience, but on an inability to leave the past behind.
The writing is raw and replete with Spanish phrases/words that you can use a dictionary to decode or glean the meaning from the text. I had trouble determining the voice, and an Amazon review set me straight as to who is narrating the chapters.
The narrators believe that a curse, the "fuku" shapes the family's destiny. The story provides a more rational foundation for the family's troubles. The insecurity of childhood and peer rejection play the big role in emotions and hence the fates of Oscar and his mother. Both have the strong need to love and offer loyality for it. Due to their youth and the absence of first hand knowledge of their grandfather and father respectively, both expect loyalty which leads to parallel trauma for the mother and son.
Besides illustrating a contemporary immigrant experience, the book provides a history lesson on the Dominican Republic. One learns how the Trijillo dictatorship affected the lives of the people and bred the societal instability that followed it.
Throughout, the book seems real. The writing is spare, but clearly conveys the characters, their worlds and their choices.
I don't think that the word "wonderous" in the title or the childlike red silouhette (albeit blood splattered) on the cover accurately convey the reality inside the cover.
Delivered As Advertisd July 13, 2008
Kevin C. Evans (Greenville, Texas)
The book was autographed with ownership documentation. it was in new condition with no damage or wear. I'm very pleased.
Navigating in Two Worlds July 12, 2008
Leonardo Vivas (Boston, MA)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is the best piece of literature I've come across in the last year or so. Usually novels or stories from Latino authors --characters, ambiance, and locations --feel like an ardous path toward fitting in, socially or culturally. In Junot Diaz's novel you are compelled to join a new world. A world in which you live the experience of highly achiever Hispanics in their quest to define themselves against themselves. The combination of English and Spanish is hilarious. I had fun from the beggining to the end.
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