The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

By: Junot Diaz

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Staci Snell

Length: 16 hrs

Publisher's summary

Pulitzer Prize, Fiction, 2008

National Book Critics Circle Award, Fiction, 2008

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 Fuku: the curse that has haunted 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.

Diaz 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 Diaz as one of the best and most exciting voices of our time.

Also includes the bestselling short story collection Drown.

©2007 Junot Diaz (P)2007 Penguin Audio, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc. and Books on Tape

Critic reviews

"An extraordinarily vibrant book that's fueled by adrenaline-powered prose... A book that decisively establishes [Díaz] as one of contemporary fiction's most distinctive and irresistible new voices." (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times)

"Díaz finds a miraculous balance. He cuts his barn-burning comic-book plots (escape, ruin, redemption) with honest, messy realism, and his narrator speaks in a dazzling hash of Spanish, English, slang, literary flourishes, and pure virginal dorkiness." (New York Magazine)

"Genius... a story of the American experience that is giddily glorious and hauntingly horrific. And what a voice Yunior has. His narration is a triumph of style and wit, moving along Oscar de Leon's story with cracking, down-low humor, and at times expertly stunning us with heart-stabbing sentences. That Díaz's novel is also full of ideas, that [the narrator's] brilliant talking rivals the monologues of Roth's Zuckerman - in short, that what he has produced is a kick-ass (and truly, that is just the word for it) work of modern fiction - all make The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao something exceedingly rare: a book in which a new America can recognize itself, but so can everyone else." (San Francisco Chronicle)

Cannon

A wonderful literary masterpiece for folks in the diaspora. This recording also has Diaz’s story collection, “Drown”, at the end of the novel

Excellent

I Loved this book. It was poetic and melodic and I would recommend it to anyone. The language is a great combination of Spanish and English, and street and poetry. I can't wait to read more fromt his author.

Wondrous?

I can't decide if I liked this book. There were aspects of it the writing/execution that were interesting, e.g. the justaposition of the DR culture and the nerd culture. It was always a welcome surprise to hear references to LOTR and other sci-fi/fantasy in the middle of this tragic story. And that's what this story is -- a tragedy. There are a few comedic moments, but these are very few. It's mostly heart-breaking.

While I found Oscar a sympathetic character, his mother was not. Nearly half the story focuses on her life and that of her parents, who brought on the family curse from which Oscar comes to believe he also suffers.

I found the preoccupation with sex monotonous, but it certainly is central to the plot. It's almost funny when it's to do with Oscar's prolonged virginity, but it's also a driving force behind the demise of most of the characters.

On the upside, I thought the narrators were excellent, so it's an easy listen. However, if your Spanish is rusty, there will be a number of asides that you won't understand or will have to glean from the context.

Wow - Listen and learn

Junot is a very contemporary, very insightful writer. The narration of this audio book is excellent. The analogies and references are funny, insightful and mind opening. It is vulgar - but the vulgarity rings so true and so real that it helps to illustrate the story. I was fascinated by the way Diaz wove the contemporary references with a full historical record. I'm eager to learn more about the Dominican Republic. Awesome story line.

Fantastic narrator, very dark

This is by far the best narration job I have ever listened to. The book is written in the first person, and Jonathan Davis did a fantastic job both acting as the character narrating the book as well as changing his voice for the dialogue. That being said, the book was darker than I expected - you should be prepared for both child abuse and political torture. I am somewhat familiar with Dominican history and speak enough Spanish to understand the phrases (and sometimes whole sentences) that were not translated, so I liked the writing style, but I could see how this might be a big detraction for others. The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 was that by the end I found it a little repetitive - Oscar seemed to just keep going through the same disastrous patterns without learning anything, which I didn't find convincing. Nevertheless I was so impressed by the narrator that it hardly mattered.

outstanding

This is a brilliant novel, very well narrated. True, there is a lot of untranslated Spanish. Even though I know absolutely no Spanish, this was not an impedement to my enjoyment of this book. Very highly recommended.

Everything I was looking for

This book had everything I look for in a book -- something to challenge me, historical background, tough chicks, macho guys, quirkiness, a really, really good story. Now I know a little more about Dominican history. This is personal. Very well written and with interesting character development. I saw someone make a comparison to A Thousand Splendid Suns, and maybe a comparison can be made..but they are very different.

great but....

I was on the fence on how to rate this book. First off, I do want to say that one of the things I was wondering about was whether the fact that I don't speak Spanish would affect how well I would enjoy the book. I discovered to my pleasure that I was fine not knowing the exact meaning of the various phrases used. I could guess with some and with others it wasn't a problem just not knowing.

As for why I wasn't sure how to rate the book, it was really the ending that made it a problem for me. The writing in this book is wonderful -- it catches you from the beginning and really keeps you wanting to know more. But that's part of the problem for me. When the ending came, I felt it was a big letdown. I wanted more to it than there was. I didn't feel a sense of closure, if you will. Hard to explain without giving the ending away.

The upshot is that this is a great book, but don't expect much from the ending. And if that's more important to you than good writing and a good middle story, then think about whether it's worth the read.

disappointed

I was disappointed that I was not able to understand much of the book because it was not in english (with no translation). I was disappointed because the author is a very desriptive writer.

Two great books for the price of one

This audiobook included both The Brief Wondorous Life of Oscar Wao and (unbeknownst to be) Drown. I thoroughly enjoyed both books. Great find!