Book Review: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Oscar Wao is a young man growing up in Paterson, N.J. (home of Giants wunderkind receiver Victor Cruz). A first-generation U.S. citizen, along with his sister, his extreme nerdiness sets him apart from his cursed ancestors from the Dominican Republic. His maternal grandparents and his mother all ran on the wrong side of Rafael Trujillo, the horrendous dictator who ruled the DR from 1930 to 1952. While the previous two generations (and his older sister) all struggled with love and sex in ways that risked their lives and well-being, Oscar is more sheltered, an overweight comic book fanboy who regularly falls in love with girls who don't recognize his existence.

Still, Oscar is tragic in his own way. While he wasn't imprisoned until he lost his mind like his grandfather or burnt with scalding oil like his mother, he was a hopeless romantic, something that caused him great pain throughout his life and was the reason why that wondrous life was so brief.

While the story was an interesting one, I think the way it was told made it that much better. Most of the book is narrated by a third party - not Oscar or his mother or his sister - whose identity you learn about halfway through. In addition to learning about the history of the de Leon family, you also get a crash course in the history of the Dominican Republic, something I knew next to nothing about. And for a book with such serious topics - love, sex, death, rape, depression, desperation - the tone is actually kind of hilarious. Almost all of the DR historical information is relegated to long, opinionated footnotes. The narration is a strange conglomeration of Spanglish with  random comic books, movies, sci-fi and fantasy stories referenced throughout.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao was the latest selection for the Snooty Book Club, with its Pulitzer Prize giving it instant credibility. I loved this book, and one of the reasons I did so was because it didn't resort to pretentiousness despite winning so many literary awards. It didn't trip over itself trying to sell its symbolism and Deep Meanings; it had all that stuff but still found a way to be funny and engaging. Despite the fact that it's been 10 years since I took high school Spanish, and therefore, I didn't understand some of the words or phrases, I still found it an extremely easy read that I blew through in a matter of days. I'm interested in checking out This is How You Lose Her, Junot Diaz' collection of short stories that all involve the narrator of Oscar Wao. Despite his straying eyes, I'm a big Yunior fan.