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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: $7.19
You Save: $6.81 (49%)
New (52) Used (17) from $7.19
Rating:  235 reviews
Sales Rank: 71
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
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 about and praised first novel of 2007, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
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 fuku 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<./I> 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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 230 more reviews...
 Boring! December 2, 2008
Kaydee A (Florida)
I got as far as page 106 and couldn't waste any more time on this book. Too many random words in Spanish-just enough to wonder what the author is talking about. There were also a lot of footnotes-tiny footnotes-that made this feel like a boring school book. I tried, but couldn't finish this book. We read it for a book club and others had the same opinion.
 Story of a dominican family November 30, 2008
Andres C. Salama (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This story of a Dominican family, from the 1930s to the present, as they face a curse because one of its ancestors once displeased the all powerful Dictator Rafael Trujillo. Each chapter is about a particular member of the family. Some of them are memorable - the Oscar of the title, a black teen living in a New Jersey ghetto, a virgin weighing over 300 pounds, obsessed with videogames, Tolkien and genre literature and with zero game on women, is a memorable literary creation. Also compelling is the character of his grandfather, a respected doctor in the Dominican Republic who grew foul on dictator Trujillo by refusing to give her young daughters to him to deflower (the Dominican ruler apparently enjoyed Droit de Seigneur on his republic). Other characters (Oscar's sister, Oscar's mother) are less interesting, so this is a case of a book that has great moments and less great ones. Still, it is a recommended read, even if the Pulitzer prize it won was probably a bit too generous.
Not that brief and not that wonderous. November 30, 2008
J. Becker (Berkeley CA USA)
I read this book for a book club I am in and would say that I enjoyed the read. It's a look into a culture and a history (Dominican-American) that I was unfamiliar with and found interesting and often entertaining. Diaz's writing is very good, sometimes lyrical. However I found it hard work to get through the book and probably would have dropped it if I hadn't felt obligated to finish it. In discussing the book with others I stated that I would not read it again, it just didn't feel substantial enough. Diaz is a good but not great storyteller.
 a brief history of Dominicans and Dominican-Americans November 30, 2008
N. Dimaio
A compelling look at how torturous it is to live under a dictatorship and how strong and defiant the human spirit is. A history lesson in the Dominican Republic which unfolds in a very interesting and personal way as Trujillo's curse effects 3 generations. If you dont know any Spanish, have a Spanish-English dictionary or someone who does speak Spanish (I had a Cuban born husband on hand to ask the words they dont teach in school. He said Oh, you're speaking Dominican?) A great book.
One of a kind November 26, 2008
J. Bosiljevac (san fran, ca)
Oscar is the outcast of outcasts. The tragedy of tragedies. A Dominican boy growing up in New York in a cursed family (a particular Dominican curse, called a fuku). He is into all things nerdly: Dungeons & Dragons, sci-fi/fantasy. He is a hopeless romantic, falling in love with women he passes on the street. Oh, and he is 300+ pounds. Not your typical hero.
Oscar's story is told through the eyes of people around him: mainly his drop-dead gorgeous sister, Lola, and his reluctant friend and college roommate, Yunior. We also get a fair amount of family history, Oscar's family's unfortunate relationship to the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic, and his mother's tortured relationship with his grandmother.
The history and culture of the Dominican Republic are woven into the story with the Marques-esque skill, but the voice of the narration is wholly modern and original. It's straddles conversational and literary and bounces from person to person and time to time with ease, slowly building a story that feels immediate, yet firmly placed in a long history.
I really enjoyed this book. It drags at parts, but about halfway through, it really takes off. I've never read anything quite like it, stylistically, and Oscar is a very memorable character. That said, I was hoping for a little more out of Oscar. Not as a character; he is who he is--a rather pathetic, dorky guy with a quixotic heart and a head full of fantasy. He is sympathetic, but he is also a frustrating character to love. He walks headlong into tragedy with stubborn determination, and all we can do is cover our eyes, helpless, and wait for the inevitable.
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