I got this book for Christmas, a gift from someone who’d also never read it, and somehow I’d never heard much about it – just heard OF it and that it won the Pulitzer a couple of years ago – and so it was one of those nice experiences where I didn’t know what I was getting into. But! good news. I loved this book. Crazy about it, sort of.
I guess the nicest thing at first was the fact that I’d never read anything even close to The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. It’s this epic story full of footnotes and Lord of the Rings references and history – recent history – of the Dominican Republic, specifically during the ‘Trujillo Era’, when the country was ruled by one of the bloodiest most awful tyrants of the 20th century (about whom I don’t know enough, I need to admit).
The Oscar in the title is this horribly overweight nerd, a Dominican growing up in New Jersey who wants to fall in love and be a great sci-fi writer and all the rest of it but unfortunately he just really can’t help himself from being the loser that he is – a real bind, since Dominican men are typically very successful with women. This is in stark contrast to the narrator, who at points in the novel is the boyfriend of Oscar’s sister. He tells the story without waiting for you to catch up – using slang, drifting into Spanish, etc. He tells the reader about Oscar’s mother growing up in the DR and his grandfather, who is rumored to have spoken against Trujillo one day, therefore incurring a curse that’s haunted Oscar’s family ever since. Hence Oscar’s disastrous luck – maybe? Maybe? We also read about Oscar’s sister and her strained relationship with her mother. It’s so GOOD. It’s hilarious and fascinating and then so sweet and sad and tragic that it’s sort of a kick in the teeth.
Diaz also has a short story collection out called Drown. I’ve never read it. Can’t wait to. anyway!
Susie
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