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 Kind of a mixed bag, but mostly good This Pulitzer-Prize winning novel tells the story of the unlucky Dominican-American family of an obese science-fiction nerd. It's narrated first-person by Yunior a friend of the family contemplating these events years after they've happened. In sequential order, Yunior gives us chapters on Oscar's geeky childhood, the mother-daughter conflict suffered by older sister Lola, mom Beli's story back in the Dominican Republic, Yunior's own college days with Oscar, the story of Abelard the grandfather back in the Dominican Republic, and the rest of Oscar's story. Things I disliked: (1) The hyper-machismo of the narrator gets really tedious, really fast. I realize that the author is either parodying the typical Dominican male or - eeek -giving an accurate representation, and I recognize that it's all right for him to do so. But some readers are going to feel like they're trapped on an endless city-bus ride listening to an obnoxious drunk as they wade through 335 pages of the f-word, the n-word, the b-word, and countless other derogatory terms for women and men who are attracted to other men. Here's a typical sentence from our narrator from page 195: "Some n-----s couldn't have gotten a-s on Judgment day; me I couldn't not get a-s even when I tried." (2) The characters are often too willfully stupid to give you much emotional return on your investment in reading through their sections: they get numerous warnings of danger that could be easily avoided and still they blunder on their mindless course straight into it. Some character flaws are interesting, but too much of this makes the reader disengage. I'm mainly referring to Beli and Abelard here, but also to Oscar. Things I didn't mind, but other people might find annoying: (1) Lots of long footnotes in tiny font interrupt the narrative to dispense information about dictator Trujillo. (2) Lots of slang Spanish, but not just single words that are easy to pick up in context. Rather, there are sentences and even lines of dialog that you'll miss if you don't speak the language. (3) The pop culture references are non-stop to science fiction novels like Dune, war-gaming terms, Marvel comics, B-grade movies, etc. Things I liked: (1) The writing is very good and very energetic. (2) Oscar is a fascinating character - but very sad. Readers may not find his story nearly as "hilarious" as they might expect. (3) The history and culture of the Dominican Republic really comes across vividly. Readers who might appreciate this book most are going to be much like the author: well-read, heterosexual guys who belong to ethnic minorities. Others include extremely open-minded readers from other demographics who seek a window into something very different from their own experience.  A wondrous journey I picked this book up based on the superlative reviews, having never read Diaz's DROWN. And wow...is all I can say. The book starts off a little slow, but once you get into the meat of the story you're simply blown away by the heart, the language, the emotion. And when the book finally comes to the end, you feel like you've known Oscar and his family your whole life. Just hope you don't get their fuku... Of curses and blessing Junot Díaz has something important to tell us. He also has something funny and entertaining - but above all, he has a major talent to display on his latest novel "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao", which was recently awarded a Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The title character, Oscar Wao, is one of those unforgettable literary figures, like Holden Caulfield or Oliver Twist, for instance. A character that becomes bigger than his book, that transcends narrative and becomes a human being. Early in the novel he is described as `not one of those Dominican cats everybody's always going on about - he wasn't no home-run hitter or a fly bachatero, not a playboy with a million hots on his jock'. He also hasn't had much luck when it comes to love. Early in his life, Oscar Wao had a brief period of luck with girls but it has long past. And he may suffer from an ancient curse called fukú that has fallen upon his family for centuries. In order to tell Oscar's familiar history, Díaz uses this curse as both a device and an excuse. The whole narrative maybe focused on the journey of fukú until it reaches the protagonist. As such, "The brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao" becomes a bigger picture. This reminds of another Pultizer Prize winner Jeffrey Eugenides' "Middlesex", in which by telling the journey of a gene, the writer revisits a whole century and an immigrant saga. "Oscar Wao" is also an immigrant family saga, and here is where lie the most serious and political tone of the novel. It is interesting that most of the Dominican history is told in footnotes - as if the history itself was, for the rest of the world, nothing more than a footnote. Díaz has a major talent to make political comment is a subtle way. `(...) the First American Occupation of the DR, which ran from 1916 to 1924 (You didn't know we were occupied twice in the twentieth century? Don't worry, when you have kids they won't know the U. S. occupied Iraq either'. "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" is at the same time both exhilarating, funny and political. And this is one of its major qualities. Díaz makes you laugh, cry and think while entertaining you. He has one of the most assured voices of contemporary literature - a real blessing. amazing i had never read anything more touching and corresponding to my roots and my culture. this man is not making up or exaggerating the truths and realities of the dominican history nor about the characteristics of its citizens. | |||||||||||||