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What Members Thought
Stronger than DROWN, OSCAR WAO is an odd melange of family saga, bildungsroman, contemporary realistic fiction, and history. Yeah, it has too much Spanish (for gringo readers) and too many footnotes (for anyone other than Dr. Scholls), but it wins you over, page by page, as you watch the horror of a grotesquely obese kid trying to win love (and, OK, lust) in a world that has little use for fatties. OK, it doesn't help that he's a sci-fi nerd to boot, and has a vocabulary that would make SAT blus
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Oscar is the most tragic, but lovable hero. He embraces everything nerdy, has an endearing want to simply experience love, but the misfortune of being obese and carrying a supposed family curse leads to his lifelong struggle. The story has actually less to do with Oscar and more to do with this curse and how it has affected each of his family members. We follow the narrator, Yunior as he tells each story and watch as the mascot or guardians of the curse (a talking mongoose and faceless people) m
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I wanted to love this book, but it did not happen... I kept searching for the missing element that would have made me enjoy this book better, but came to the conclusion that it was the overly excess of practically everything that finally tired me of it. It was just too much: too much violence, too much stereotyping, too much Spanish, too much info in the footnotes....
It could be a case of the wrong book at the wrong time, as I am usually drawn to books with an experimental quality but, in any ca ...more
It could be a case of the wrong book at the wrong time, as I am usually drawn to books with an experimental quality but, in any ca ...more
Funny, smart, and educational, seeing as I know next to nothing about Dominican history. Diaz captures the old country/new country tension perfectly, and Oscar is a great beta-male hero.
Amazing. Wonderful. Beautifully writ, fast-paced, graceful, Junot Diaz is my current favorite fiction writer.
I held out hope the ending would rescue this book. I was sadly disappointed.
Oct 30, 2008
Neal Fultz
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Jenn
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Dec 19, 2008
Lindsey
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Jim
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Mar 24, 2009
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Rhiannon
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May 15, 2009
Temple Dog
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Bernice McFadden
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Kat (A Journey In Reading)
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Val
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review of another edition
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May 15, 2010
Heather
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Feb 08, 2011
Celeste
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