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The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

by Junot Diaz

This is the long-awaited first novel from one of the most original and memorable writers working today.
Things have never been easy for Oscar, a sweet but disastrously overweight, lovesick Dominican ghetto nerd. From his home in New Jersey, where he lives with his old-world mother and rebellious sister, Oscar dreams of becoming the Dominican J. R. R. Tolkien and, most of all, of finding... (more)

Top tags: fiction,  dominican republic,  pulitzer prize,  contemporary fiction,  immigrant experience (all tags)

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Most Helpful Reviews

Liked It

4 of 5 members found this review helpful.
Jenn
  • Rated 4 stars

“The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao turned into a much more interesting book than I had originally expected after the first couple of chapters. At first I wasn't convinced of the book's supposed greatness-- a story about a fat Dominican nerd in New Jersey? But the story quickly became so much more. In its "here's the D.R. during Trujillo" it reminds me most of the book it at one point references, "In the Time of the Butterflies". In it's unsparing look at political violence, it called to...”

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Didn’t Like It

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
elizabeth a
  • Rated 2 stars

“This book as neither brief nor wondrous. I really have to say that I was disappointed.”

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Community:
  • Rated 3.961165 stars
Amazon:
  • Rated 4 stars
  

Newest Comments

  • AsuperTAURUS

    asupertaurus said:

    “Can someone explain why the thugs asked Oscar for the translation to fuego at the end?”

    posted Sunday, April 5 2009 ( | view 1 reply )
  • Pame

    pame said:

    “I've only read a few chapters but he captures "living on the hypen" very well. some of the Spanglish phrases I don't get though. ”

    posted Wednesday, September 17 2008
  • Tori C

    tori c said:

    “The book has been in my apartment since 11/07 and I avoided reading it because I knew that Trujillo's murderous regime would be covered in the book. Last month, I decided to brave the Trujillo truth and dive into Oscar's world. It was worth it. The book lives up to the buzz and I loved how Diaz takes this overwhelming vast historical truth and distills it into the intimacy of one family.”

    posted Thursday, July 10 2008
  • Judy A

    judy a said:

    “I just finished this book. I do not think it lived up to all the buzz about it, but it was a good read. Fast, interesting and good develpment of characters. Author wrote with a sense of humor which kept story interesting and lighthearted at times.”

    posted Wednesday, July 2 2008
  • Romy A

    romy a said:

    “I've heard great things about this book. Does it live up to the buzz?”

    posted Thursday, June 26 2008 ( | view 1 reply )

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