The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Pulitzer Prize Winner)

by Junot Díaz

Book Overview

Winner of:
The Pulitzer Prize
The National Book Critics Circle Award
The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award
The Jon Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize
A Time Magazine #1 Fiction Book of the Year

One of The New York Times's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

One of the best books of 2007 according to: The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Magazine, Entertainment Weekly,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1594483299
• ISBN13: 9781594483295
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: Riverhead Books
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Excelente Book

I read this book in both languages, is excelent, it recommend, portrays very well what is the Latino community, especially the Dominican Republic in the U.S. I recommend the version in English, enjoyed best the form of a peculiar write of Junot Diaz.

Divertida.

En una palabra, esta novela es: Divertida. Narra, de forma simpática y fácil de leer, la historia de una familia Dominicana bajo una maldición que trasciende tres generaciones. La narrativa esta salpicada con spanglish y cultura pop lo que le da una voz joven que lamentablemente se cruza dentro de personajes sobrios a quienes un tono coloquial les daría fidelidad. Entre sus relatos logra abrir una ventana a la cultura Dominicana: Aquella de la Isla, tanto urbana como rural, junto con aquella de quienes viven en Nueva York. Los contrastes se hacen particularmente interesantes cuando los Americanos viajan a la RD. Asimismo, el libro emplea a sus personajes para reflejarlos distintos estratos socio económicos de un país en desarrollo. Haciendo énfasis en aquellos años en que La República Dominicana estuvo bajo la dictadura de Trujillo. Quizás hubiese disfrutado mas de la novela si el narrador fuese mas creible como personaje. Un joven gigolo dominicano que levanta pesas no me cuadra tanto con sus conocimientos de ciencia ficción y una serie de materias de literatura universitarias que lo unen a Oscar...Con solo ser un ex-novio de la hermana bastaba. En general es: Divertida.

Wao as in WOW!

Dude can write. In fact, this book is one of the most original that I've come across in a long time. Like the layers of an onion, Diaz peels back the layers of years to reveal the back history of Oscar and his sister Lola. And what a history it is! The Banana Curtain is unveiled and the horrors of Trujillo -- the raging narcissist and despoiler of women -- are unflinchingly revealed, creating shudders of revulsion and flashes of understanding in this reader. Junot Diaz creates a language and a tempo unlike any I've read before, peppered with Spanish colloquialisms, street talk, and video game terminology. Somehow, though, it works -- and works beautifully -- even if you don't know an "hola" from an "adios" or have never played a video game in your life (like this reader.) I will not soon forget Oscar Wao, the 300+ pound romantic, Lola, Yunior, or his mother and the Gangster and his ill-fated grandparents. The book is compulsively readable. For all of those who say that "the novel is dead", I say: read Junot Diaz.

the funniest, sweetest book of the year

Wow, Junot Diaz is a force! I can't remember the last time I loved a book this much. Oscar Wao is a Dominican fanboy nerd living in New Jersey. He's crazy about women but they won't give him the time of day. Even when he visits the Dominican Republic the women look the other way. Oscar fancies himself to be a fantasy writer. He loves JRR Tolkien, comic books, etc. He's that sweet, fat, intellectual dweeb who deserves love but doesn't know how to get it. Diaz has long, hysterical footnotes that give readers a pocket history of the infamous regime of the Dominican dictator Trujillo. Oscar's mom and sister are incredible characters. This book will make your heart burst. It's that good.