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The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao [Includes Story Collection: Drown]

di Junot Diaz

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Fictio Literatur HTML:Things have never been easy for Oscar, a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd, a New Jersey romantic who 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 fukú??the ancient curse that has haunted Oscar??s family for generations, dooming them to prison, torture, tragic accidents, and, above all, ill-starred love. Oscar, still dreaming of his first kiss, is only its most recent victim??until the fateful summer that he decides to be its last.

With dazzling energy and insight, Junot Díaz immerses us in the uproarious lives of our hero Oscar, his runaway sister Lola, and their ferocious beauty-queen mother Belicia, and in the family??s epic journey from Santo Domingo to Washington Heights to New Jersey??s Bergenline and back again. Rendered with uncommon warmth and humor, THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO presents an astonishing vision of the contemporary American experience and the endless human capacity to persevere??and to risk it all??in the name of love. A true literary triumph, this novel confirms Junot Díaz as one of the best and most exciting write
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From the very first pages of The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (which I will from now on refer to as "Wondrous" because the title is too long), you are sucked in. The narrator goes on and on about "fuku" curse and the superstition of it all. It's amusing and chilling all at once. All the while, you are hoping fuku doesn't set its sights on you. But if it does, you also hope to have a little zafa (counterspell) hanging around.

When we first meet Oscar, he is seven years old and the year is 1974. He is the "GhettoNerd at the End of the World" trying to have two girlfriends at once. The story switches gears for chapter two (1982 - 1985). Oscar's sister, Lola takes over the story in first person. She is a feisty runaway girl with typical teenage angst. From there, the narratives keep changing. Each voice tells a new story (just wait until you get to the story of Lola and Oscar's mother, Belicia from 1955 to 1962). Through the generations, all the while the fuku is circling this doomed family. The writing of Wondrous is rich and enveloping. You cannot help but get completely drawn into the lives of every character. ( )
  SeriousGrace | Sep 25, 2015 |
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a Pulitzer Prize-winning epic about a family who emigrates from the Dominican Republic to the United States (New Jersey specifically). That’s the shortest and easiest way to boil down this novel, which is hard to describe succinctly.

You see, the novel constantly switches perspective between Oscar (third person) and his sister Lola (first person) and their mother Beli (third person again) and then finally Yunior himself (Lola’s occasional boyfriend and Oscar college roommate, who was technically narrating Oscar and Beli's parts) although focusing on his time spent with Oscar. We’re then back to Lola's first person narrative briefly; then we switch over to another third-person (Yunior) narrative, this time telling the story of Abelard, Beli's biological father, with a little bit of Beli's story thrown in; and finally back to Oscar again with more of Yunior’s story at the end. You see how this gets messy really quickly? I don't mind the different perspectives so much (for instance, I loved how Faulkner did this in The Sound and the Fury, although it wasn't just a “gimmick” there - it also propelled the plot forward while letting us see how the different characters reacted to the same overall situation, the death of the family matriarch) but switching perspectives while going backwards and forwards in the narrative's timeline is just too much. Be kind to your reader. Don't make them feel like it's work to get through your book.

Of the disparate narratives, Lola's story was the most interesting to me and best told. Beli's story is way too long and I honestly couldn't stand her as a character. (As a teen, she treats her adopted mother terribly and acts without regard for her own safety and well-being, let alone anyone else's; as an adult, she beats and berates her children. What's not to like?). I almost stopped reading this book at several points during Beli's section, which says a lot because I have a perverse need to see books all the way through, even when I don't like them. That need was the only thing that pushed me through this book; it certainly wasn't enjoyment. When it finally switched back to Oscar's story, the book became slightly more interesting but that may have been just the relief of being done with Beli's part.

Telling this epic, multi-generational story all out of order just feels odd. I’m reminded of a recent article I read that criticized modern and postmodern writers for sacrificing plot in favor of ... well, being quirky (to paraphrase). Yes, a formulaic novel isn't always everyone's cup of tea and it doesn't usually make for "the great American novel," but telling a story out of order just for the novelty or "literary-ness" of it doesn't make a good novel either. The reader certainly doesn't benefit from it, and the novel really doesn't benefit from it either. We as the reader already know the ending of each section (especially Beli’s and Abelard’s) because it's been alluded to in the earlier sections (i.e., we know Beli will survive her capture; we know Abelard will not) so the reader doesn't really have a compelling reason to continue on with the book. And quite frankly, the writing of this book doesn't make you want to push forward despite the lack of the surprises.

All in all, the narrative sometimes feels very jerky, as it jumps from one point to another non sequitur like or recounts non-linear events. There's also creates slip-ups like Oscar showing his writing to Ana and later being upset that Ana has never read of his writing; Oscar and Ana going on shopping trips to Yaohan mall at the beginning of their friendship and later Oscar discovering Yaohan mall on one his long drives out when he is upset about Ana’s boyfriend returning to town; Abelard being in prison for 14 years before Trujillo's assassination yet the daughter who was born to him while he was in prison being 16 or 17 when Trujillo is assassinated; etc. Things like this annoy me in a book for they take me out of the novel’s world by creating inconsistency within that world.

Furthermore, I’m just plain tired of the misogyny and vulgarity in so many works. I really couldn’t care less about Oscar going through adolescence 'not getting tail.' Oh the tragedy. All in all, dysfunctional people and domestic abuse are seen as the norm in Oscar’s life and everyone around him – i.e., 13-year-old girls dating 24-year-old men, children running away from home, mothers beating their children, teenaged girls getting beat up by their boyfriends, etc.. I don’t need my books to be all sunshine and roses, but I do need some indication that someone somewhere is functioning normally, and this book doesn’t provide that comfort.

In terms of language style, the author seems to want to meld ghetto speak and SAT words. As this seems a good summation of Oscar's character, it wouldn't be so bad if he did this only when Oscar is speaking, but he also does it throughout the narrative. This book is also considered unique for its extensive use of footnotes in the narrative. In the audio version, the footnotes from the book are read without pause directly into narrative, which was a poor decision on the director’s part. (However, once I knew that footnotes were part of the style of the book, I began to be able to guess what was a footnote, although without any printed book to compare it to, I could still have been wrong for all I know. It appears that some of the more interesting stuff was in the footnotes for these gave interesting historical context). I can see where the idea of telling a story with footnotes is considered inventive and out of the norm, but all in all it makes for a choppy narrative (especially considering how the narrative is already broken up non-linearly with multiple perspectives). There’s lots of Spanish words and phrases thrown into the book without definition and as I don't know Spanish, these parts were completely lost on me. That’s more a failing on my part, but also an FYI to other non-Spanish-speaking readers that you'll want to have a translator on hand (harder to do with the audio book I had so I really was just completely lost on some sentences).

For an example of the mix of vulgarity, misogyny, ghetto speak, Spanish and SAT words, just take a look at this passage from early on in the book:

In those blessed days of his youth, Oscar was something a Casanova. One of those preschool loverboys who was always trying to kiss the girls, always coming up behind them during a meringue and giving them the pelvic pump, the first nigger to learn the perrito and the one who danced it any chance he got. Because in those days he was (still) a “normal” Dominican boy raised in a “typical” Dominican family, his nascent pimp-liness was encouraged by blood and friends alike. During parties—and there were many many parties in those long-ago seventies days, before Washington Heights was Washington Heights, before the Bergenline became a straight shot of Spanish for almost a hundred blocks—some drunk relative inevitably pushed Oscar onto some little girl and then everyone would howl as boy and girl approximated the hip-motism of the adults.
You should have seen him, his mother signed in her Last Days. He was our little Porfirio Rubirosa.[insert footnote here]
All the other boys his age avoided the girls like they were a bad case of Captain Trips. Not Oscar. The little guy loved himself the females, had “girlfriends” galore. (He was a stout kid, heading straight to fat, but his mother kept him nice in haircuts and clothes, and before the proportions of his head changed he’d had these lovely flashing eyes and these cute-ass cheeks, visible in all his pictures.) The girls—his sister Lola’s friends, his mother’s friends, even their neighbor, Mari Colon, a thirty-something postal employee who wore red on her lips and walked like she had a bell for an ass—all purportedly fell for him. Ese muchacho esta bueno! (Did it hurt that he was earnest and clearly attention-deprived? Not at all!) In the DR during summer visits to his family digs in Bani he was the worst, would stand in front of Nena Inca’s house and call out to passing women—Tu eres guapa! Tu eres guapa!—until a Seventh-day Adventist complained to his grandmother and she shut down the big parade lickety-split. Muchacho del Diablo! This is not a cabaret!
It truly was a Golden Age for Oscar, one that reached its apotheosis in the fall of his seventh year, when he had two little girlfriends at the same time, his first and only ménage a trios.


There are other far more vulgar and misogynistic passages (particularly in Beli's section) that would be better examples, but they aren't available in the Google books preview and this book certainly isn't worth me going back to that section of the audio to try and transcribe them. But you can get a feel for the writing style with this.

Basically, if you haven’t gotten the picture yet, this book was not my cup of tea. I definitely thought it was way over hyped. However, I do like that it's set in part in New Jersey so that the local references aren't lost on me, but that wasn’t enough to save the book for me. [****Spoiler alert**** You know a book is bad when the main character is near death but then is miraculously saved and you're disappointed because if he was dead, at least the damned book would be done already. And then when he does finally die, you're just so happy the book is over, you don't even really care.****End spoiler alert****]

A note on the audio narrators – the man (who reads the majority of the book) has this annoying habit of dropping his voice real low at random times so your options are either driving around with the volume much higher than needed for most parts or missing words and phrases frequently. The female narrator speaks very placidly and basically monotone no matter what she is speaking about, as though she is tired of the world, but that's somewhat fitting with her character so it's not quite as bad as it sounds.

My copy of the book also contains Drown a collection of short stories also by Junot Diaz. The stories were not much better than the novel, largely because they still display casual attitudes toward violence, misogyny, and drug abuse. Also short stories are not my favorite medium as they end too abruptly (not a criticism of Drown specifically, just a general observation about most short stories). At least some (most?) of the stories in this collection are related, but they are told out of order, which just makes for a frustrating reading experience. They are also mainly told in the first person, sometimes without it being clear who the narrator is (i.e., unnamed), so it really makes it hard to figure out what’s related and what isn’t. However, I do see more of Diaz’s talent here; perhaps if I had read these first I might have more respect for them, but as it was, they were just additional "please let this book be done already" fodder. The final story in the collection, about a father’s experience immigrating to the United States and getting started here was the most interesting one. ( )
  sweetiegherkin | Feb 10, 2012 |
Let me preface this with a personal disclaimer. This was not an easy book to navigate with an audio version, although the reader was superb, because of the many Spanish words and colloquialisms which I did not recognize. With a visual, I could have looked back, checked the spelling, looked up words, and perhaps I would have found the book far more entertaining. I found some of the subject matter very distasteful and the language unnecessarily profane. The most vulgar language and sexual descriptions left little to the imagination. Although the descriptions were apt and spot on, they were sometimes absolutely gross. I was not a bit interested in reading graphic descriptions of violent, senseless beatings or gratuitous, sadistic sex that did not in any way enhance the story. As in “A Visit From The Goon Squad” by Jennifer Egan, the language and descriptive sex in this novel, detracted from its beauty.
The book is written with subtle humor even as it describes horrific scenes. The characters are not very likeable as they are all very naïve and ill informed, making poor judgments leading to abysmal consequences in their lives. They never seem to learn from experience and repeat the same mistake, generation after generation, choosing the wrong mate and the wrong path to follow, hence the aura of a curse around the family.
That said, the author did a masterful job of setting the time and place. Through the history of Oscar Wao’s troubled family, beginning with his grandfather, Abelard, in the Dominican, and continuing with Oscar’s upbringing, we learn what it was like for him to live and grow up in Patterson, NJ, as well as in the Dominican Republic, right under the nose of Trujillo. He forces the reader to experience the brutality of the regime. We learn of the fucu, the faceless man, the dreams and the tragedies that befell this family, generation after generation.
The history of Oscar’s family is filled with despair. Under the Trujillo regime, his family was stripped of their wealth and prominence. It was an oppressive regime which left no records of its monstrous cruelty to individuals. Oscar’s cousin was destroyed by friends, the very friends who turned him in with their lies, who then became the recipients of some of his wealth. It was a corrupt society, hopeless. Oscar believes his family has a background based in superstition or the supernatural, that it is cursed. He is very intelligent and very creative with a wild imagination.
Oscar’s mom had a hard life in the Dominican Republic and she moved to the states. Oscar grows up in Paterson, New Jersey with his sister. He is a loser, a nerd; he has no social life, has no social skills and is not especially pleasant looking, being overweight and wearing glasses, among other things. He is a misfit from a broken home; his father left his mom after 3 years of marriage. His mom is a taskmaster who rarely gives compliments or encouragement and his sister eventually runs away and is sent back to the Dominican to live with a cousin. We continue to follow Oscar as he grows up but never seems to fulfill his dreams. He is unsuccessful with women and has few friends. When he finally doe, succeed, it is in the Dominican Republic, and it is a tragic and final ending.
There are several concurrent narratives, causing some confusion. The narrator, Yunior, relates the highlights of the different character’s lives. For a time, they seem to have no connection, but eventually, all the parts coalesce. There is Beli, Oscar’s mother; Lola, Oscar’s sister; Yunior, his “so-called” best friend; La Inca, Beli’s cousin; Ybon, Oscar’s true love and others. They all have their own stories; they all come from the Dominican. It is an immigrant's story, a story about superstitions and fantasies, nightmares and dreams, dysfunctional families, doomed relationships, poor choices, abandoned hopes and unattainable dreams and desires.
Having lived in NJ, I found the places mentioned in the book a walk down memory lane. I remembered with fondness, the drive-in, in Perth Amboy; the amusement park in Wildwood, NJ; Rutgers University. ( )
1 vota thewanderingjew | Jan 22, 2012 |
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Fictio Literatur HTML:Things have never been easy for Oscar, a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd, a New Jersey romantic who 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 fukú??the ancient curse that has haunted Oscar??s family for generations, dooming them to prison, torture, tragic accidents, and, above all, ill-starred love. Oscar, still dreaming of his first kiss, is only its most recent victim??until the fateful summer that he decides to be its last.

With dazzling energy and insight, Junot Díaz immerses us in the uproarious lives of our hero Oscar, his runaway sister Lola, and their ferocious beauty-queen mother Belicia, and in the family??s epic journey from Santo Domingo to Washington Heights to New Jersey??s Bergenline and back again. Rendered with uncommon warmth and humor, THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO presents an astonishing vision of the contemporary American experience and the endless human capacity to persevere??and to risk it all??in the name of love. A true literary triumph, this novel confirms Junot Díaz as one of the best and most exciting write

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