The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

by Junot Diaz

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In a word: natural

In a sentence: Dominican, fat-boy, virgin, Oscar, follows his family's fuku to its source and back again.

Synopsis: The de Leon, formerly Cabral, is followed by a fuku, or maybe a blessing, depending on who you ask. Each member weaves their personal narrative into what it means to be a Dominican.

Reactions: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a love story. Not the rose-colored-glasses, or the fairy-tale kind, but the violent, creepy, crazy kind. Its not an overt love story filled with soliloquy or lavish with adjectives, but a love story thoughtfully chronically a family, and a place, which are loved. Even the language of the text is uniquely loving, for rather than beautifying everything it illustrates, it chooses its words from the colloquialisms of a best friend sorely missed.

This novel is also a love story about the Dominican Republic. Its written by a narrator raised not to know anything else, rich with cultural norms, traditions, and personalities. This narrator, however, was thoughtful enough to add extensive footnotes for his less knowledgeable readers, about a great deal of 20th century Dominican Republic history, meaning that I learned a great deal reading this novel. It's always an extra treat to gain such a great deal of fact through the enjoyment of fiction, and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is generous with both.

This novel, finally and most apparently, is about the Cabral family. The entire family is deeply immersed in Dominican culture, and yet defy it in some significant way. Abelard defies it by standing up to Trujillo. Beli defies it by escaping to America. Lola defies it by becoming educated. Oscar defies it by facing the fuku. Each character is just as Dominican as they are unique.

Read if: you have a felt hardship, an outcast, or love.