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The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao |  | Author: Junot Díaz
Publisher: Riverhead Trade
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy Used: $2.85
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Seller: Vityusha's Rarities
Rating:  486 reviews
Sales Rank: 800
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5 x 1
ISBN: 1594483299
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9781594483295
ASIN: 1594483299
Publication Date: September 2, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
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
Product Description
The most talked aboutand praisedfirst novel of 2007, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd whofrom 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 fukúa curse that has haunted Oscars 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<./I> opens our eyes to an astonishing vision of the contemporary American experience and explores the endless human capacity to persevereand risk it allin the name of love.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 486
 Pseudo Literature July 26, 2010
Tom Cutrofello (New York City)
The first 2 or 3 chapters are quite good. Especially the footnotes that refer to Dominican history/culture. Otherwise, it was a chore to finish it - and I did. The author makes numerous references to old computer games, science fiction, Domincan slang. When I hear others rave about it, they're just pretentious.
 Wow July 18, 2010
Anthony Rodriguez
I was recommended this book by a friend who said to me, "Oh ya, this one's for you." To which I replied, "What the hell's that supposed to mean?!" I hate being pigeonholed in my literary tastes but damnit my friends know me.
Let me back up a little though. (I swear I have a point.) One of my favorite books is Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables," mainly because I consider it the antidote for another of my favorite books, Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" (and vice versa). The best one sentence summary I can give of "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" (Oscar Wao from this point forward) is that it too is an antidote for "Heart of Darkness."
First, I have to talk about my favorite aspect of the book. One of my favorite things about "Oscar Wao" is the freakin' amazing DEPTH of knowledge of horror, fantasy, sci-fi, comic literature, etc. that Diaz possesses. Now I ain't no punk when it comes to that stuff, but I could barely keep up with Diaz. This caused me to be drawn to the book for two reasons. First, I've spent a LOT of my spare time consuming the works of art/literature/cinema that Oscar did. (I knew this guy was the real deal when he made the Miracleman reference. You can't fake that.) So, naturally that was a hella of a lot of fun for me. Second, I could relate to Oscar's alienation even though my social problems growing up were nothing compared to his (although this was probably more through luck than my own design). My favorite line of the whole book is "You really want to know what being a X-man feels like? Just be a smart bookish boy of color in a contemporary US ghetto. Mamma mia! Like having bat wings or a pair of tentacles growing out of your chest." Now I'm not of the Swiss Rodriguez's so where I grew up you would literally get your ass kicked if the guys from the neighborhood saw you reading. Didn't matter what it was for (school, church, or, God forbid, pleasure), you got the crap beaten out of you. Everyone in my neighborhood knew reading was something only white boys did and if you were a true Mexicano you didn't touch a book. So when I read that part about Oscar just wanting to read, man I FELT for the guy. It was one of those great moments of literary gold where you not only feel you truly understand the character but you also feel the character truly understands you. To me, that alone is worth a Pultizer. There are so many more gems like that but I'm getting close (if not already there) to trying your patience, so I'll get back to my initial point. Antidote to "Heart of Darkness." Here's why.
First, I hate half-assed works of fantasy. You know the ones, where there's a planet of cat people having a cat war or something. These works are the equivalent of little powdered donuts, empty calories and pretty disgusting almost as soon as you bite into it. I think the great Irish fantasist Lord Dunsany had it right when he said, "Fantasy without memory is like bricks without straw." Memory, true life, is the SOUL of all fantasy, the soul of all literature and art.
Now I'm not saying "Oscar Wao" is entirely a work of fantasy. (God, can this book even be categorized? Amazon must have been tearing their hair out trying to figure that one out.) What I'm saying is that "Oscar Wao" weaves fantasy and reality seamlessly as it is, perhaps, in day to day life. Whether you believe in fuku's (must say zafa now) or Lovecraftian entities or comic book superheroes or Christ, that a morbidly obese Dominican can get laid days before he bites it, we all have a line we draw between the fantastic and the real, between the dark and light things that inhabit our lives. The antidote comes in at the intersection of the two, a type of phenomenon which the only word I can think to describe it is Magic. For me, "Les Miserables" showed me the "real worlds" answer, the world of logic and rationality's answer, to the darkness that perpetually surrounds us and like jackals in the night steals that which we love and treasure. "Les Miserables" showed me the goodness humanity is logically capable of. "Oscar Wao" showed me a different but powerful answer. It showed me the magic. It showed me, like Oscar said to Clives when Grodd and Grundy had them, "They're too late." It showed me that the dark things have gotten here too late. They're here too late because of the magic. Although philosopher after philosopher have made systems of ethics to explain humankinds goodness, they all leave out, by definition, that element that cannot be captured by any system. That element of chaos. The darkness is chaos, yes; but the magic is chaos too and it is as powerful, if not more, than the darkness. There is fuku, but there is also zafa. Beli found the magic. So did Lola. Oscar always had it but only knew this at the end. And perhaps that is the lesson. The chaos that is the magic is here with us and the darkness has come too late. It's always been too late. Because of the beauty, because of the magic. Zafa.
 I didn't like it, didn't finish it. July 15, 2010
J. Clark (Canyon Country, CA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I picked up this book in an attempt to find some some good, modern writing. I figured something from a list of award winning books would be a good bet, but in the end I became bored with this book and didn't bother finishing it; which for me never happens.
My first problem with the book actually had more to do with the writer and his style. This book feels like a forced patchwork of other notable author's styles, sort of like a magician that learns a bunch of famous tricks and then slams them all together in one show as if to say "Look what I can do." The author's lack of punctuation or sentence structure reminds me of Falkner and Joyce. His self absorbed protagonist Oscar reminds me of a Dominican Holden Caulfield in that his internal dialog seeks to cover up his short comings with witty banter. The seemingly pointless interjection of Latin slang in the middle of sentences reminds of of Clockwork Orange, only the slang in that books was easier to figure out in context.
Next were the characters. They were all easily predictable archetypes that were understandable, but not likable or interesting in any way. Each was clearly defined and had a specific style, but that wasn't enough to make me want to find out anything about what was going on in their lives.
Finally, in an attempt to be hip and/or demonstrate pop culture credentials, the story is filled with strong language and sexual references that in no way promote the story or create atmosphere. I'm a heavy reader of a lot of different styles, and if gore, sex, or raw language benefits the story I'm all for it; but that wasn't the case here. Many times it felt forced and pointless.
Pros:
The story does capture the life of a character that has been done before, but puts a different spin on it, which may give a certain demographic a reason to be interested in this book.
The use of Twain-style local color is convincing, and of the other devices used by the author, works the best.
I guess if you wanted to learn something about the post-colonial period in the Dominican Republic then this book is good. It's crammed with all sorts of historical minutia about the nation that shares an island with Haiti.
Cons:
The characters aren't compelling.
Even though I know something tragic happens to Oscar, I just really couldn't care enough to finish the book and find out.
The author seems to be more impressed with his ability to use literary devices than to make them work in a way that makes the story better.
If you are going to sprinkle phrases from a foreign language in a story without giving the reader some contextual clues as to what they mean, then you should footnote or end note them.
brilliant from start to finish July 9, 2010
Bookworm123
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is a five-star read. I was shocked to see that this book had only received 4 stars in the reviews. It is an amazing story that it not only superbly written but captures you and keeps you page-turning. I carried the book everywhere so I could try and get to the next part of the story. It is steeped in knowledge and yet maintains a fantastic blend between history and realities of life. His other book drown is also excellent.
 Okay June 30, 2010
M. Griffin (Central Islip, NY United States)
This novel was very interesting in some parts and it dragged in others. The interesting sections were the ones dealing with the former dictator Trujiullo and the story of Oscar's mother and grandparents in the Dominican Republic. The story of Oscar's life in New Jersey was okay. The narrator of the story briefly uses offensive laqnguage and th "N" word. I could have done without that. I would recommend this book with reservations.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 486
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