The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
Winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize, this book was the toast of the chattering class a few years ago. Due to its description, I bought it and put it on a shelf. I didn't want the book to have to live up to the hype that it was the best novel of the 2000s. A few things of note, I read quite a few reviews of this book prior to writing this post. Most of them reference Diaz's use of language as groundbreaking. The reviewers must live in English only enclaves because punctuating sentences with Spanish is so normal I didn't notice. Now this could be due to the fact that I live in Texas and many of my friends are bilingual. If the English word doesn't fit, Spanish is used and vice versa. I kept waiting for the groundbreaking to happen, and didn't realize until halfway though that I had been experiencing it the entire time.
The past 10 years have brought forth a lot books that contain so much nostalgia that they are going to end up with their own literary term. Oscar Wao is going to be one of the corner stones. The book is well written and expertly crafted. Students are going to be told to rip it apart to discover it's literary metaphors. From references to Watchmen, Lord of the Rings, and an overt homage to Hemingway, Diaz weaves them in and out of a not so classic love story. As tragic as it is comedic, I found myself hugging the novel when it was done. I knew what was going to happen, but I wanted it to stop. My wish for the character was overridden by the author. Diaz had to do what he had to do. Oscar is such an emotionally accessible character, and it's difficult to not feel a sense of loss at the end of it all.
I want more people to read this book. Part of me wants to slap a used copy down next to a friend and demand that they read it. It is the type of novel that needs to be shared and discussed though friendships and book clubs. It deserves to be given as gifts and passed around. Pick this one up and give it a go.
My next selection is Beauty Queens by Libba Bray. It's her version of Lord of the Flies. After Going Bovine I've become a huge fan, so I'm crossing my fingers that this is a good one.
Winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize, this book was the toast of the chattering class a few years ago. Due to its description, I bought it and put it on a shelf. I didn't want the book to have to live up to the hype that it was the best novel of the 2000s. A few things of note, I read quite a few reviews of this book prior to writing this post. Most of them reference Diaz's use of language as groundbreaking. The reviewers must live in English only enclaves because punctuating sentences with Spanish is so normal I didn't notice. Now this could be due to the fact that I live in Texas and many of my friends are bilingual. If the English word doesn't fit, Spanish is used and vice versa. I kept waiting for the groundbreaking to happen, and didn't realize until halfway though that I had been experiencing it the entire time.
The past 10 years have brought forth a lot books that contain so much nostalgia that they are going to end up with their own literary term. Oscar Wao is going to be one of the corner stones. The book is well written and expertly crafted. Students are going to be told to rip it apart to discover it's literary metaphors. From references to Watchmen, Lord of the Rings, and an overt homage to Hemingway, Diaz weaves them in and out of a not so classic love story. As tragic as it is comedic, I found myself hugging the novel when it was done. I knew what was going to happen, but I wanted it to stop. My wish for the character was overridden by the author. Diaz had to do what he had to do. Oscar is such an emotionally accessible character, and it's difficult to not feel a sense of loss at the end of it all.
I want more people to read this book. Part of me wants to slap a used copy down next to a friend and demand that they read it. It is the type of novel that needs to be shared and discussed though friendships and book clubs. It deserves to be given as gifts and passed around. Pick this one up and give it a go.
My next selection is Beauty Queens by Libba Bray. It's her version of Lord of the Flies. After Going Bovine I've become a huge fan, so I'm crossing my fingers that this is a good one.
No comments:
Post a Comment