The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot D?az
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Book Reviews of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Book Review: Not bad, dude, but a Poolitzer??
Summary: 3 Stars
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?Book Review: Worthy of the Prize
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Book Review: Delivered As Advertisd
Summary: 5 Stars
The book was autographed with ownership documentation. it was in new condition with no damage or wear. I'm very pleased.Book Review: Navigating in Two Worlds
Summary: 5 Stars
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.Book Review: I really liked it but it's not for everybody
Summary: 4 Stars
I read this book based on the Amazon reviews and I really liked it a lot. His writing style is different from what one is probably used to reading, but once I understood what he was doing, I really enjoyed it. The book is very conversational in the way the story is told.
I gave it to my husband to read as soon as I was finished and he could not get past page 30. He did not like it at all. He didn't like the "Spanglish" (however, that was one thing I loved about it, but I also speak Spanish so I'm sure that's why) or any of the characters. It's a lot funnier though if you do speak the language.
The book, while very funny, has a melancholy tone to it that is throughout (which I also like). He tells the story thru many different characters eyes, and you get all of their back stories so no matter how flawed the character is, you feel for them.
He does a great job of developing all the main characters which is almost everything in a story to me. It's definitely worth reading.