There was little doubt I would eventually get to this next book. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz was pretty much on every "best of" book list for 2007 and on top of that, it won the Pulitzer Prize (though for me, the "best of" list is more predictive of whether I'll read a particular book).
I also have an autographed copy of it! I didn't get to the book signing, but was lucky enough to snag one of the "extra" signed copy the weekend after Diaz's appearance. Though I am not sure it matters all that much, as the squiggle doesn't even give the suggestion of any of the letters in Diaz's first or last name... so who knows, but it is still kind of cool!
Overall, I enjoyed the novel very much - though it's not one that I would recommend for everyone. It takes a while to figure out (well at least for me!) who the narrator is and who's eyes we view the story through as well as the time and place of the novel all jump around a bit. Throw in a good dose of Spanglish... regularly going off on tangents via footnotes (usually one of my pet peeves, but not so much here)... and a healthy serving of Dominican Republic history... and this isn't a typical read by a stretch!
Now, what can I tell you?! Well, the title is a good place to start! Despite the many shifts in narration, the focal character is the young Oscar, a first generation Dominican-American whose fate is pretty much decided before you even open the book, with a dark cloud (the family curse/"fuku"?) ever over his head. Oscar is no Latin lothario - in fact, just the opposite... an overweight, comic book loving, can't give away his virginity nerd... but one of the most likable, sympathetic characters I have encountered in some time.
Also, fun for me is that that this takes place in New Jersey... and it is not everyday when my undergrad alma mater is mentioned (Oscar ends up attending the much more nationally known Rutgers U) or Oscar's trip to the very same comic book and game stores at the very mall I went to hundreds of times in the two decades I spent in the Garden State.
So while I like this the book quite a bit, I will admit to getting occasionally lost or slowed down at times, particularly the parts of the book that delved back to Oscar's ancestors and their lives back on the Dominican Republic... and I am guessing how Oscar meets his fate being a point of contention, but again this book is not one of those books that take predictable (or even logical) turns... much like "real" life!
Ultimately, I found this to be a very fresh-voiced, original novel (and a challenge to Diaz, as that kind of 'rap' is quite tough to follow-up)... funny and heartbreaking... sure a bit self-indulgent on the author's part, but that's one sin, I can typically forgive. But again, one of those books that I could recommend to some, but not others... and I am guessing (hoping!) that you can probably figure out which one you are by this 'review.'
2008 1-2-3-4-5 Reading Challenge: + 335 Pages (Total: 9,506 pages - Finished: 10/28/2008)
-810 pages behind pace for the year (-105 change in pace since last book).
How funny - I just finished this book yesterday! However I listened to it. The narration was great and really added to my enjoyment of the book. And I did enjoy it but find myself wondering what are the criteria for a book of fiction to be named as a Pulitizer Prize winner? I tried googling and didn't get a satisfactory answer.
So I must ask - am I one of the ones you thought would enjoy it?
Posted by: Joanna | Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at 07:57 PM
I'm asking this here because the sidebar doesn't have a comments section.
Isn't this like Allison Janney's second or third birthday this year?
Posted by: Scot | Wednesday, November 19, 2008 at 11:26 PM