The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

De: Junot Díaz

Narrado por: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Karen Olivo

Read by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Tony Award®-winning creator and star of the musical Hamilton, and Tony Award®-winning actress, Karen Olivo. This brilliant narration adds another layer of lyricism and depth to this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic novel.


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.

Poor Oscar

the story is compelling. At times I got a little confused because it jumps around a lot. But I was definitely sucked into the magical energy of the curse in the family. so well-read too. Definitely worth a listen.

A wondrous tale

I would never read/listened this book if I hadn't heard about the Lin-Manuel Miranda audiobook. I'm glad I stumbled onto it through Lin-Manuel Miranda. This is an interesting story and well written. I love the humor of the writing even though the story is at times quite dark. I have to admit my Spanish is not good enough for this book but the performance did relay a lot. My only complaint about this is something that may not be as bad if you actually read the physical book. At times I found it difficult to determine the narrator of the story. I will have to investigate this author further.

Wonderful book, with a great performance

This is a great book that follows the story of a family over multiple generations. It illuminates the private lives of the family members alongside the social and political backdrops of the Dominican Republic under dictatorship and New Jersey in the 70s-90s, and I'd recommend it to everyone. It's funny, heart wrenching, and beautiful. Besides the story, the performance itself is worth the listen. The primary narrator does a fantastic job bringing the characters to life. The only thing is, if you don't speak Spanish it's a little complicated to listen to; there is a lot of Spanish and Spanish slang mixed in. You can find super helpful translations online if you search for annotated Oscar Wao. I kept referring to those while listening and it worked out very well, but it meant I couldn't listen in the car or anytime I didn't have the internet handy. Still worth it and I'm glad I listened to the audio instead of reading it in print.

Great story with some historical info about DR

Great story and performance by Lin Manuel Miranda is very entertaining and engaging as the narrator.

Perfectly balanced

Light yet dense, not a fan of historic novels, this was excellent: the mix of history and pop culture, the languages. Great mix.