Book - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao cover

[ US UK ]

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

by Junot Diaz

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: A ghetto nerd living with his Dominican family in New Jersey, Oscar’s sweet but disastrously overweight. He dreams of becoming the next J. R. R. Tolkien and he keeps falling hopelessly in love. With dazzling energy and insight Díaz immerses us in the tumultuous lives of Oscar; his runaway sister Lola; their beautiful mother Belicia; and in the family’s uproarious journey from the Dominican Republic to the US and back.

Well, you don’t win the Pulitzer by mistake. This book was pretty amazing. There was a lot of Spanish (my wife claims most of it was filthy) and a lot of sci-fi references. But it was great.

I think the end was the only flaw… a bit to much effort on Oscars side to explain the fuku… and too many loose ends to tie up, but still, really well done. I definitely recommend it.