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)

A wonderous tale

Any additional comments?

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a book that deserves to be read. It's a story that speaks beyond the author's words with truth about life and death. I found myself at odds at many times making every attempt to shield my emotions as the story unfolded. Political, honest, happy, tragic, horrifying, sexual, historical....these are the underlying themes that make this story interesting - one to keep any reader engaged! Happy reading everyone! Peace and love!

Great surprise

Junot Diaz has a great knowledge of DR, and transforms his fantasy into a fantastic story

Great read

Would you consider the audio edition of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao to be better than the print version?

I always prefer print but audio is convenient.

Any additional comments?

Just a wonderful story, edgy, brutal, sexy. Very culturally sensitive as well.

I wish I could love this more

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I was not into the male narrator's voice. It just didn't do it for me. Something too arrogant and cocky about his narration. Or maybe it's just the story.

Did Jonathan Davis and Staci Snell do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

I enjoyed the female narrator's voice. It was easy to listen to and understand. She made the female characters that she narrated sound really intriguing, and I wanted to know more about them. Not so much with the male characters, including Oscar.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

It might be better as a movie.

wtf ending

l loved this listen but am I alone in thinking part of the last chapter is missing from this audiobook??!!

Did not enjoy this book

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Though the writing itself was good, the story shifted in its focus numerous times. After hearing about the life experiences of many characters, I was left at the end wondering what the point of it all was. The title is misleading, since most of the book is not focused on the character of Oscar, nor is it from his perspective. It does begin with him and end with him, but much of the time it is unclear who is telling his story, and what his story has to do with the majority of the book.

modern literature added finest

a wonderfully told story with vibrant characters and dialogue, and an interesting examination of the human condition, In all of its shame and cruelty, and it's surprising triumphs

An amazing story!

A great story filled with culture, family, and history. I also enjoyed the short stories in Drowned.

Talented writer

Diaz is magic with words. The worlds he creates in New York and Dominican Republic are colorful. The characters are strong and unique, probably representative of people of this time and history. The plot line is unpredictable, revealing of real history , and imagined events which believably could have taken place. This story should be re read to catch all the flavor

Big Wao

Epic story. Somebody should make it into a long movie. Jonathan Davis again is excellent reading it. A modern classic.