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The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao | 
 enlarge | Author: Junot Diaz
Publisher: Riverhead Trade
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy New: $6.50
You Save: $7.50 (54%)
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Rating:  267 reviews
Sales Rank: 37
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.9 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 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
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 fukua 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: Read 262 more reviews...
 Interesting, yet Frustrating January 7, 2009
The Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao follows the life of a nerdy young man living in New York. Oscar is a comic book-loving overweight kid who is obsessed with girls, but lacks any kind of social skills to actually form a relationship. Even worse, he is of Dominican heritage, and has a reputation to live up to. Also, his family is haunted by a fuku, or curse, resulting from his mother's interactions with the former dictator of the Dominican Republic. The narration is done by different characters in different parts, including Oscar's college roommate Yunior and his sister Lola.
Oscar Wao was a very frustrating book for me to read due to its uneven pacing. While some parts were very interesting, others seemed to drag on forever. As I was reading, I looked up some reviews to determine whether it would get better, and one said that the action picked up after page 150, which was true. However, from about page 75 to page 150, I had to struggle to push myself through.
Another thing that hindered my enjoyment of the book was the pervasive inclusion of Spanish phrases, especially slang. I am far from fluent in Spanish, but have some basic competence; however, many phrases were outside my level of comprehension. As I did not feel like sitting at my computer looking up phrases while I was reading, I just did the best I could within the context of the story.
The part of the story I enjoyed the most was the section about Oscar's mother, Belicia, during her youth. First and foremost, it was very interesting to read about the Dominican history that was the backdrop to her youth. I had no idea of the atrocities committed by their dictator, Trujillo. I also enjoyed the descriptions of the island, as I knew little about it except its history as a hotbed for producing Major League Baseball players.
The other thing I enjoyed about the story was the characters. While the plot sometimes seemed muddled, the characters were very distinctive. Oscar's mother was very negative, and her history explained why she ended up this way. Her two kids, Lola and Oscar, were opposites of each other, but were able to develop a strong bond. I wanted to follow these characters, but would have preferred to do so in an easier to digest manner.
 Read It! It's Brilliant! January 7, 2009
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Don't be misled by other reviewers. This novel is brilliant, utterly mesmerizing. Common humanity leaps out of each page, perhaps as often as a truly brilliant turn of a phrase or description of an event. Characters are vividly realized, Diaz's style actually changes to reflect the characters he focuses particular sections on, he invokes the magic of places most of us will never see and wouldn't be able to see in his way anyway. I read it in three days while in Iraq, meaning I went on maybe 90 minutes of sleep a day for 3 days or 4 days because I couldn't leave it alone (the day I finished it, I couldn't sleep because of all the feelings and thoughts running through my head--it is that powerful!).
I don't say it much but this is a must-read.
An OK read, I guess... January 6, 2009
Not quite done... been working on this one for almost 3 weeks, which is a long time. I will read some, put it down for a few days, read a little more, put it down, etc. etc.
I will finish it, hopefully by the end of the week. Again, it is ok but I don't know if I would recommend it to anyone... I thought the Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green was a much better book, but I guess because this one incorporates so much Dominican political history it is worthy of the Pulitzer Prize?
The character development in this book is not great--- Diaz leaves you wanting more description; however, I think he does a very good job of depicting modern Dominican life, although I worry that I may be reading a a lot of stereotypes about Dominican men and women and the way they interact with eachother.
Bried and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao January 6, 2009
This book was in excellent condition. (Not that the protagonist was.) I received it in a reasonable time and appreciate the concept of recycling.
 Painful to get through...why did I bother? January 3, 2009
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book has inspired me to post my first rating on amazon. The use of footnotes was lazy and the characters lacked any sense of depth. Miserable and unconvincing.
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