Book Review: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

This is the story of an evil curse and one man's quest to defeat it through love. This is the story of a family of Dominicans and their immigration to the US. This is the story an obese uber nerd. There's a hundred ways I could summarize this book, and they all happen simultaneously. Couple this with writing that is at times deep like poetry but always fast paced and keeping you turning the pages. The book is epic, the scope impressive, this all coming from a guy who loves multi-volume 900 page fantasy epics.

The language in the book is striking. It is told in a conversational manner but mixes in Spanish expressions (if you don't speak Spanish, you can still get the gist or even figure out what the expressions mean. Junot Diaz is a master of this). Also every page is loaded with nerd references that will make even the slightest nerd go "what! no way Jose!" The book really almost reads too fast. Once I started it, I basically wanted to spend all my time reading it. But because of the pace, it would not be hard to finish it "by accident" in one sitting. Or at least less sittings than I'd rather have. It's a joy to read.

I knew the author was good, I had read his book of short stories Drown. The best part is, the stories of Dominicans in the US and Latin American immigration are a topic that has never really appealed to me. Or at least hadn't ever before. But in Drown I was so captured by the dudes amazing writing style. He pulls you in. When I heard that he had written the novel, and what the premise was, I knew I had to read it. Who else could basically turn a real life, legitimate fucked up Latin American dictator (Trujillo), into basically Sauron. Yeah he does this, but you won't know how until you read the book.