The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) by Junot Diaz

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) 

by Junot Diaz 

Paterson, New Jersey

New Jersey: 9/14

  Another Pulitzer Prize winner out of New Jersey.  The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is also another 1,001 Books to Read Before You Die/1,001 Novels: A Library of American cross-over book.  I read it in 2015- I think I read my girlfriend's copy that she kept on the shelf of her apartment when we first met.  It's a good pick for 1,001 Novels list- about Dominican immigrants, and a prize winner and all that.  I was pretty critical in 2015.

Published 4/28/15
The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007)
 by Junot Diaz

  Junot Diaz is one of those contemporary authors who I managed to miss over the past decade.  I knew that Diaz won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction in 2008.  I noticed the Audiobook edition was read by none other than Hamilton the musical writer Lin-Manuel Miranda- another cultural phenomenon I've missed.  Which is all in the way of saying I had long suspected that I wouldn't like this book, but I wanted to give it a fair shot, especially since so many other people love it.

  I'm sure there isn't a lot of advantage to be had in trashing a decade old Pulitzer Prize winner.  Diaz isn't the first person to tackle the Trujillo Dictatorship in the Dominican Republic, and this book often references The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa.  The travails of  life under the Trujillo regime are similar to the travails suffered by others under Third World dictators- or the mid twentieth century totalitarian dictators of the World War II era. 

   The other part of The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao involves the life of young immigrants in America, Oscar and his older sister.    I can't remember a book I've enjoyed less.  I think it was probably the combination of Diaz' "street smart" jargon- which I believe is a major reason people love it- and the voice of Lin-Manuel Miranda who I clearly do not appreciate in any way shape or form.  I'm not saying this book or Miranda is not good, the popularity of both and the general universal critical acclaim would indicate that they are both excellent at they do. but no, not for me. I'm also going to take a pass on Diaz' other books because I just don't think I could take it.