Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Genres
Description
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 Fukœ-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.
Subjects
Original publication date
2007
Media reviews
Díaz’s novel also has a wild, capacious spirit, making it feel much larger than it is. Within its relatively compact span, “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” contains an unruly multitude of styles and genres. The tale of Oscar’s coming-of-age is in some ways the book’s thinnest
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layer, a young-adult melodrama draped over a multigenerational immigrant family chronicle that dabbles in tropical magic realism, punk-rock feminism, hip-hop machismo, post-postmodern pyrotechnics and enough polymorphous multiculturalism to fill up an Introduction to Cultural Studies syllabus. Show Less
It is Mr. Díaz’s achievement in this galvanic novel that he’s fashioned both a big picture window that opens out on the sorrows of Dominican history, and a small, intimate window that reveals one family’s life and loves. In doing so, he’s written a book that decisively establishes him as
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one of contemporary fiction’s most distinctive and irresistible new voices. Show Less
Awards
Dublin Literary Award (Shortlist — 2009)
Pulitzer Prize (Winner — Fiction — 2008)
LA Times Book Prize (Finalist — Fiction — 2007)
National Book Critics Circle Award (Finalist — 2008)
The Morning News Tournament of Books (Finalist — 2008)
Salon Book Award (2007)
Dayton Literary Peace Prize (Winner — Fiction — 2008)
Anisfield-Wolf Book Award (2008)
Center for Fiction First Novel Prize (Winner — 2007)
Prix Maurice-Edgar Coindreau (2010)
Massachusetts Book Award (Must-Read (Longlist) — Fiction — 2008)
Hurston/Wright Legacy Award (Winner — Fiction — 2008)
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work (Nominee — Fiction — 2008)
Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year (Fiction — 2007)
Booklist Editor's Choice: Adult Books (Fiction — 2007)
The New York Times Notable Books of the Year (Fiction & Poetry — 2007)
San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year (Fiction — 2007)
Christian Science Monitor Best Book (Fiction — 2007)
Village Voice Favorite Books (2007)
David Bowie's Top 100 (2007)
The Great American Novels (2007)
Around the world in 80 books (Dominican Republic)
The Most Iconic Books Set in 150 Countries Around the World (Dominican Republic)
100 Iconic Love Stories From Around the World (Dominican Republic)