about a book

overflowing:

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz

This book is amazing and in my opinion, the summary on the book in no way does the tale justice. 

The story centers around Oscar de Leon, an overweight Dominican nerd in love with all things SCI FI who is living in New Jersey, but goes into great detail about his rebellious sister, overbearing mother and savior of a grandmother. The plot switches back and forth in its focus on each character. The story takes us back in time to the DR and the days of Trujillo’s rule, and explains how the dictator is directly responsible for the supposed curse on the de Leon family. Reading about what Oscar’s ancestors have been through is incredible.

Our narrator is all-knowing and each character is fully developed. The days of Trujillo’s rule is discussed in depth and footnotes (though at first may seem discouraging - some lasting for pages), are written in our narrator’s down-to-earth lingo rather than text book prose.

I had read Krik? Krak!  in one of my English classes this past semester, and although Datnicat’s tales were of the haunting experiences of the Hatians, Diaz’s book is very similar in portraying the evil dictatorship the Dominicans (and Hations) endured.

If you enjoy a little fact and history mixed with your fiction, then this book is for you. A very interesting read that has definitely been added to my list of favorites.