The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

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Moe
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Joined: 21 Dec 2009, 21:00
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The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Post by Moe »

Has anyone read The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz?

"It is the story of Oscar, a Dominican 300-pound-plus 'lovesick ghetto nerd' with zero game."

I absolutely loved this book!!! It is like nothing I've ever read before, it was refreshing and poignant. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2008.

So... Anyone else read it? Thoughts? Favorite parts / Quotes???
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SPReader16
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Post by SPReader16 »

I decided to read The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao after reading part of Drown for a college class. I really wish my Spanish was better. I understand enough to get the basic idea of what is written, but I know I missed a lot of the details in the Spanish phrases. I felt that Diaz’s extensive footnotes take up quite a bit of space in some chapters, but they are packed with rich historical information that adds a great amount of depth to the story. It would also sometimes take me a few pages to figure out who was the new narrator of a given section, but I enjoyed the use of multiple narrators and perspectives. I also really appreciated Diaz’s portrayal of depression and how it affects a person’s life as well as the people around them. I enjoyed to portion about Oscar’s mother and her parents the most. Her story is horrifying, but so intriguing at the same time. I found it interesting that the book is named after Oscar, but so much of the story focuses on his family members. Any thoughts on that? The book was entertaining and I feel like I learned a lot, but I probably will not choose to read it again merely because it is darker and more violent than what I usually choose to read for pleasure. I would, however, still recommend it to others.
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