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by: Junot Díaz  List Price: $24.95 Amazon.com's Price: $16.47 You Save: $8.48 (34%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Binding: HardcoverDewey Decimal Number: 813.54 EAN: 9781594489587 ISBN: 1594489580 Label: Riverhead Hardcover Manufacturer: Riverhead Hardcover Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 352 Publication Date: September 06, 2007 Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover Studio: Riverhead Hardcover Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Amazon.com: Amazon Best of the Month, September 2007: It's been 11 years since Junot Díaz's critically acclaimed story collection, Drown, landed on bookshelves and from page one of his debut novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, any worries of a sophomore jinx disappear. The titular Oscar is a 300-pound-plus "lovesick ghetto nerd" with zero game (except for Dungeons & Dragons) who cranks out pages of fantasy fiction with the hopes of becoming a Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien. The book is also the story of a multi-generational family curse that courses through the book, leaving troubles and tragedy in its wake. This was the most dynamic, entertaining, and achingly heartfelt novel I've read in a long time. My head is still buzzing with the memory of dozens of killer passages that I dog-eared throughout the book. The rope-a-dope narrative is funny, hip, tragic, soulful, and bursting with desire. Make some room for Oscar Wao on your bookshelf--you won't be disappointed. --Brad Thomas Parsons Product Description: 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 love. But he may never get what he wants, thanks to the Fuk-the curse that has haunted the Oscar's family for generations, dooming them to prison, torture, tragic accidents, and, above all, ill-starred love. Oscar, still waiting for his first kiss, is just its most recent victim. Daz immerses us in the tumultuous life of Oscar and the history of the family at large, rendering with genuine warmth and dazzling energy, humor, and insight the Dominican-American experience, and, ultimately, the endless human capacity to persevere in the face of heartbreak and loss. A true literary triumph, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao confirms Junot Daz as one of the best and most exciting voices of our time. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Oscar Wao SucksWorst book I ever tried to read. Put it down in disgust after only 4 chapters. Lots of Spanish words not translated and huge boring footnotes trying to explain situations or references to people. Rating:  - WOW! I loved it!I just finished reading about Oscar & his familia - real characters I know that I've met. Wonderful storytelling - weaving in DR history (that I didn't know) - and sending me to the Spanglish dictionary several times. Truly a great book! Rating: - I Loved Oscar - 4.5/5 starsThe Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, was a very different kind of book for me. I enjoyed it very much, however, I found it very difficult as well. I attribute this to the fact that I had the audio version for this Pulitzer-Prize winner. There was a lot of use of Spanglish, and for someone without a Spanish background this was tough. The story itself was wonderful. Told through the eyes of various narrators, readers enter the frightening world of a Dominican Republic family living in ... Read More Rating: - I Have Never Read a Book Like This OneFast paced, interesting language...a great book that makes you care for Oscar and his little life. Knowing nothing about the culture of the Dominican Republic, I learned a lot...which is always a good thing! The book has many footnotes which bothered me at first, but it just becomes part of the reading and you can easily dip in and out of them. Well done Junot Diaz...he has done a masterful job on many levels...story, DR culture, NJ culture and the crazy pace of this novel. Rating: - spanglish Is SwonderfulDiaz's Pulitzer Prize winning novel didn't get any awards for its plot--it shines for its language. The intricate web of family history in a traditional Dominican upbringing is slowly unfolded with each long and eloquent sentence. Every sentence could be re-read four times over and still be appreciated for every deliberate diction choice Diaz makes. I often found myself pausing in the middle of a paragraph thinking, "How does he think like that?" Spanglish is a large part of Diaz's writing because ... Read More 
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