From the Bookshelf of Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library…

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Junot Díaz

Start date: February 1, 2016

Finish date: February 29, 2016

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Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Olivor Twist in Downtown Willoughby

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By Melanie · 7 posts · 12 views

last updated Jul 07, 2016 10:23AM

Big Library Read: Shakespeare Saved My Life
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Feb 24, 2016 Helen Drake rated it liked it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. For such a prize winning book, I expected much more. First of all, if you don't know Spanish, you are guessing a lot about a lot of the subtleties of the book. I refused to sit there with a Spanish dictionary so primarily got the main plot. What a depressing plot it is. It's the story of a Dominican Republic family who is cursed. Even the title is a misnomer as there is little that is "Wondrous" in the lonely, unhappy life of Oscar Wao, and that's not even his real name. He is the person who is For such a prize winning book, I expected much more. First of all, if you don't know Spanish, you are guessing a lot about a lot of the subtleties of the book. I refused to sit there with a Spanish dictionary so primarily got the main plot. What a depressing plot it is. It's the story of a Dominican Republic family who is cursed. Even the title is a misnomer as there is little that is "Wondrous" in the lonely, unhappy life of Oscar Wao, and that's not even his real name. He is the person who is shunned by most, called names and jeered at by most males. Even his two nerdy friends are embarrassed by him.

Much of of the book talks about the miserable lives of Oscar's relatives. His grandparents and mother suffered terribly during the political reign of Trujillo, a dictator and death merchant about as bad as anyone in history. Oscar's aunt, who loses the love of her life shortly after her marriage, seems to have the best life of all and tries to do her best to help his mother, his sister, and himself. They are all too obstinate to really be helped. His sister at least ends up with a somewhat normal life. His mother has known little happiness in her life although she always tried to pick herself up after getting beaten down. She did her best for her children, working several jobs to support the family, but having difficulty showing her love.

Oscar's life is one of constant torment after he is dropped by a "girlfriend" when he is in grade school. He longs for girls and love his whole life, but he is so overweight for most of his life and is a complete nerd, who is only interested in movies and games and books that few women would like. To make matters worse he does not know how to approach women without scaring them off. He has only a few friendships with women with whom he wants much more from than friendship. He is tormented by so many people throughout his life, it's a wonder he survives to his 20's before he is killed for loving the wrong woman.

His main emotional salvation is his writing. He writes throughout most of his too short life, although he never sells anything.

The narrator of the book is a person who is in love with Oscar's sister and even rooms with him for a while at Rutgers. This person is unable to be faithful to any woman during his younger years, which costs him the love of his life.

One of the few things I really enjoyed about the book were the many J.R.R Tolkien Middle Earth references. It did help me understand more of what the author was trying to convey. If you are not familiar with Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, these references can be as annoying as I found all the Spanish terms. ...more

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Feb 14, 2016 Trent Ross rated it it was amazing

Shelves: book-club, adult-fiction, latin-american-caribeean

Feb 10, 2013 Melanie rated it really liked it

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