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Binding: HardcoverDewey Decimal Number: 813.54 EAN: 9781594489587 ISBN: 1594489580 Label: Riverhead Hardcover Manufacturer: Riverhead Hardcover Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 352 Publication Date: September 06, 2007 Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover Studio: Riverhead Hardcover Editorial Review: Amazon.com: Amazon Best of the Month, September 2007: It's been 11 years since Junot Díaz'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: This is the long-awaited first novel from one of the most original and memorable writers working today. Things have never been easy for Oscar, a sweet but disastrously overweight, lovesick Dominican ghetto nerd. From his home in New Jersey, where he lives with his old-world mother and rebellious sister, Oscar dreams of becoming the Dominican J. R. R. Tolkien and, most of all, of finding love. But he may never get what he wants, thanks to the Fuk-the curse that has haunted the Oscar's family for generations, dooming them to prison, torture, tragic accidents, and, above all, ill-starred love. Oscar, still waiting for his first kiss, is just its most recent victim. Daz immerses us in the tumultuous life of Oscar and the history of the family at large, rendering with genuine warmth and dazzling energy, humor, and insight the Dominican-American experience, and, ultimately, the endless human capacity to persevere in the face of heartbreak and loss. A true literary triumph, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao confirms Junot Daz as one of the best and most exciting voices of our time. Average Rating:
 Rating: - A little wow for WaoI have to say I liked it. Kind of a day-in-the-life story that spans a long time. I found it infectious and descriptive, the kind of story that has you thinking the way the characters think and speak. Ending wasn't very clear but is good anyway. Definitely worth reading for the how it pulls you into the feel of it. Rating:  - A transcendent novel about the power of love.In contrast with last year's Pulitzer Prize winner for Fiction, Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" which is a novel of intense despair and lack of hope, Junot Díaz's "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao", this year's Pulitzer winner, is brimming with life and hope. It is a special novel, heartbreaking sweet and touching and filled with an overwhelming sense of human warmth. This is literature as a form of magic, a wonderful spell that entrances and makes us feel better about the human experience. It ... Read More Rating:  - Lost on a White Girl?Maybe because I'm a white girl from the Midwest who studied French instead of Spanish, but I had trouble getting into this book. In fact, I've set it aside to try tackling another time. Lots of Spanish slang that I didn't understand was distracting. It's won some prestigious awards, so I'm trusting it's worth trying again--but I wouldn't suggest it to my friends for a breezy summer read. Rating: - deserves a place next to the most prestigious and intelligent literary works of recent memoryThe books is in itself a masterpiece. It is written in plain language and illustrates (at least for us Dominicans) a story that we can relate to. A story that contains characters we've all known, or have partially, at least, met in our lifetime. Very rich and contains lots of literary insight, both into pop culture, history and politics. A MUST READ. Rating: - Engaging, yet disengaging...I thought this was a very engaging book, but it certainly had too many disconnecting moments due to the spanish 'interruptions'. I have nothing against another language - I myself am bilingual - but I think the author/editors/bundlers/publishers/whomever, could have been more thoughtful towards the reader; it wasn't merely minimal spanish that could possibly have been understood in context, but instead long sentences and entire conversations - not fair! Anyway, great prose, dialogue, appeal to emotion, ... Read More |
