The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (edit title)

• Rated 5 stars

“This book is the story of a young Dominican named Oscar de Leon. He is more commonly known as Oscar Wao. The book not only shows life from Oscar’s perspective, but from his sister’s and an omniscient narrator as well. Oscar is obese and he has an obsession with science fiction and fantasy. His vocabulary resembles something that would only be found in the flash cards attached to an SAT prep book. The only thing he wants most in the world is to find “pure and unadulterated love.” Despite his numerous attempts to lose weight and channel his ‘inner Dominican girl-bagging skills’ Oscar is left stranded without much hope. He finally falls in love with an unexpected person. The things that she involves him with are also unexpected. ”

• Rated 3 stars

“Heartbreaking! I learned a lot about the Trujillo Regime...”

• Rated 2 stars

“I really wanted to love this book! But the narrator's voice didn't resonate with me at all -- too hectic, too busy, too jive-talkin' and boy did I hate the footnotes. That said, the characters were compelling. I love a multi-generational family story and was disappointed that this didn't deliver more for me.”

• Rated 3 stars

“a solid, fun, empty book. just not worthy of the pulitzer, which it won. so i had much bigger expectations than for what the book delivered.”

• Rated 5 stars

“The brief wondrous life of oscar wao begins from the perspective of Oscar. He is a Dominican boy who is a player when he is younger having two girlfriends at once. Then a trematic where the girlfriend he decides to be faithful to dumps him for another boy. This starts the dominican myth of the Fuku. Oscar gains a lot of weight over the years and becomes a nerd. They move to new jersey where the other switches to the point of view of the sister who is in a relationship with a boy who just uses her. He takes her virginity and treats her like dirt. She always feels sorry for Oscar who never became more popular trying to look out for him as much as she could. She breaks up with her boyfriend and decides to go back to Santa Domingo where so can reground herself. Then we switch to the mother POV where she shows the past of Santa Domingo where the dictator Trujillo took over raping every girl that was attractive in the country. She was attached to a man who had a double life in Santa Domingo. He promised her everything that he could and led her on over and over again. He finally left her. She fled to the United States. They switch to the room mates perspective of Oscar. He wants to be in a relationship with the sister but he isn't doing well so he wants to give charity to her brother. Oscar doesnt adapt to college so well. The roomate tries to help him but he falls in love with any girls that talks to him so his roomate cant do anythign about it. Oscar has a meltdown and graduates as a manic deppresisve and is sent to Santa Domingo where he meets a woman who is about 50 years old. He falls in love with her even though she is prostitute and he dreams of finally losing his virginity. The woman warns him that she is dating a cop who is very jealous. He is determined to be with her though. He gets beaten up by the cop and almost killed but he is still determined. The cop finally goes overboard and shoots him. That is The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.”

• Rated 0 stars

“it was an interesting book - my book club read In the Time of the Butterflies a few years ago and this was a good follow up, exposing life in the Dominican Republic during more recent times. Aside from the politics, the story of Oscar is sweet and sad, and the author apparently "spoke" as if he knew Oscar.”

• Rated 5 stars

“When I first picked up The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, I thought, "I am never going to get through this." Heavily laden with pop-culture references and Dominican slang, it seemed impossible and arduous. I had heard great things about it though, so I gave it a little more time and quickly fell under its spell. You start to get the feel for the foreign words and the story is so worth it. Funny and tragic, it's a great book.”

• Rated 2 stars

“I just didn't get this one. And, I found that it annoyed me that the author chose to insert so much Spanish into the book. It was a distraction and made you struggle to read it. I would not recommend this book. ”

• Rated 4 stars

“For me once I got over the initial difficult of figuring out the setting, I was able to full enjoy this book. It speaks of the seriousness of the Domincan history that has the quality of being in another world. I thoroughy enjoyed all the science fiction references, espcecially the Lord of the Rings. I think the title is very fititng for the book after having reading it. ”

• Rated 4 stars

“Wow...I didn't know anything about Dominican history. Trujillo was not a nice man.”