Product Description
The most talked about—and praised—first novel of 2007, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize.Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd who—from the New Jersey home he shares with his old world mother and rebellious sister— dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love. But Oscar may never get what he wants. Blame the fukú—a curse that has haunted Oscar’s family for generations, following them on their epic journey from Santo Domingo to the USA. Encapsulating Dominican-American history, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao opens our eyes to an astonishing vision of the contemporary American experience and explores the endless human capacity to persevere—and risk it all—in the name of love.

Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best of the Month, September 2007: It's been 11 years since Junot Díaz's critically acclaimed story collection, Drown, landed on bookshelves and from page one of his debut novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, any worries of a sophomore jinx disappear. The titular Oscar is a 300-pound-plus "lovesick ghetto nerd" with zero game (except for Dungeons & Dragons) who cranks out pages of fantasy fiction with the hopes of becoming a Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien. The book is also the story of a multi-generational family curse that courses through the book, leaving troubles and tragedy in its wake. This was the most dynamic, entertaining, and achingly heartfelt novel I've read in a long time. My head is still buzzing with the memory of dozens of killer passages that I dog-eared throughout the book. The rope-a-dope narrative is funny, hip, tragic, soulful, and bursting with desire. Make some room for Oscar Wao on your bookshelf--you won't be disappointed. --Brad Thomas Parsons

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 438 reviews)

Could not get into it by Elizabeth (Pennsylvania)

1 Stars
November 08, 2009
I really couldn't get into this book...so much family drama and not really a good story for me at least. My book club read it....some liked it, but most didn't. It was pointless if you ask me. I did like translating the Spanish since I do speak Spanish, but other than that I did not like it at all. I see a lot of people gave it five stars....I wish I could have....not my kind of book I guess...everyone is entitled to his/her opinion. :)

100 miles an hour fabulous and moving by Abeer Y. Hoque (New York City)

5 Stars
November 02, 2009
The brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao made me laugh and made me cry. A lot. Junot Diaz's rambunctious epic Spanglish novel reads part autobiography, part history lesson, 100 miles an hour fabulous and moving. From the tortured Trujillo regime of the Dominican Republic to the endless burbs of New Jersey, I was captured by each and every member of the doomed Cabral family, most especially by Oscar whose sad fat scifi loser life was so scrupulously and unjudgmentally and hilariously etched by Mr. Diaz as to cause me real heart aching pain. My only critique was the narrator (Junior, maybe a version of Mr. Diaz?), whose brashboy style and perspective and footnoting I thoroughly enjoyed, but whose appearance in the actual text, when it wasn't his story being told, felt at times obnoxious and most times unnecessary. Either way, I highly recommend this book.

A general review of the best and not so good scandals' books on the market by Lee C. Soot, RN (Singapore)

5 Stars
October 31, 2009
A general review of the best and not so good scandals' books on the market Book: HOLLYWOOD EARTH SHATTERING SCANDALS: THE INFAMOUS, VILLAINS, NYMPHOMANIACS AND SHADY CHARACTER IN MOTION PICTURES. By Maximillien de Lafayette, Melinda Pomerleau, Germaine Poitiers, et al. Characteristics of this book: This is my favorite book, followed by the underground classic "Hollywood Babyblon" by the legendary Kenneth Angers. Lafayette's book is the most recently published book on Hollywood's scandalous stars and the silver screen. It is huge. Explosive from cover to cover. Abundance of photographs (Nearly 520 nw and rare prints). Extensive coverage of the whole spectrum of scandals, affairs and shady personages of Hollywood of all time, thus making this book, the most complete, the most informative, and no doubt, the best for your buck. Book: HOLLYWOOD BABYLON. By Kenneth Anger. Characteristics of this book: The book of all books in this arena. Forget any bad review about this book. They were self-serving. Anger's wit, style, and vocabulary are unmatched. It was the first, and will always remain the most read book on the market. His direct access to Hollywood studios' bosses added an extra dimension to his vast knowledge of hidden facts. Book: ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD: FROM THE SECRET FILES OF HARRY PENNYPACKER. By Michael Druxman. Characteristics of this book: It is very interesting, and almost essential for all thoses who went to go back in time and read the gossip columns and tabloids of the era. I liked this book, because it has some historical value. Excellent book. A very good compilation. Book: THE HOLLYWOOD BOOK OF SCANDALS. By James Robert Parish. Characteristics of this book: Large print, a good selection of photos, and plenty of information. The author knows his craft. The narratives on Rudolph Valentino are exceptionally good. Lots of references made to particular moments in Hollywood's history, thus anchoring the credibility of used facts and data. Book: DISHING HOLLYWOOD. By Laurie Jacobsen. Characteristics of this book: A very unusual book, for the simple facts, that Jacobsen incorporated food recipes and menus. She classified her articles into categories such as Breakfast, Luch, Cocktails, Main Dishes, so on, being an ex-waitress. I loved her style of writing, she is refreshing and funny. The articles on Liberace and Bin Crosby and Bobby Darin deliver the goods. Book: THE HOLLYWOOD BOOK OF DEATH: THE BIZARRE, OFTEN SORDID, PASSINGS OF MORE THAN 125 AMERICAN MOVIE AND TV IDOLS. By James Parish. Characteristics of this book: Yes, extremely entertaining. Definitely, I will add it to the list of the best books. Parish is a powerful and responsible writer. Any book by him is worth reading. Book: THE WORLD'S GREATEST HOLLYWOOD SCANDALS. By Robin Cross and John Marriot. Characteristics of this book: I liked very much this book because it had material burried in the dust of secrecy. The two authors dislike stars, particulary studios bosses, and vain stars. Lot of intensity is placed upon their personal lives, even though it is a small book. It is very helpful, despite the fact that it was cheaply produced, small print, no punctuation, and sometime badly organized. Nervertheless, it is very informative. Book: SEX LIVES OF THE HOLLYWOOD GODDESSES. By Nigel Cawthorne. Characteristics of this book: Typical British witttttt. Sarcastic but well-founded. A small book, but large in information and striking details. It is limited to the sex lives of stars. Could be very useful to those who are interested in the boudoirs of actresses. Book: HOLLYWOOD'S SILENT CLOSET. By Darwin Porter. Characteristics of this book: A huge book. It is a novel, part fiction, part confession. Some have said it's a major propaganda for homosexuals. It could be true. However through its fictional flair, lots of facts of emerge, particular those who are related to homoseual actors and their closet world. Book: HOLLYWOOD BABYLON-IT'S BACK. By Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince. Characteristics of this book: What happened here, I don't know. I was fooled by the title, and it is my mistake. I thought it was an updated edition of Anger's book, but unfortunately, it is NOT. Nothing is important about this book. However, some serious research and digging are apparent.

Reviews from Brizmus Blogs Books by A. Baker (Paris, France)

4 Stars
October 29, 2009
Reading this book was an interesting experience. Imagine living in a foreign country where you don't speak the language. You're really excited about a movie coming out and finally it does, and you go to see it in a VO theatre, so that it will be in English and just subtitled in the foreign language. Well, it turns out that 1/4 of the movie is actually in that foreign language, and, of course, since you're in a country where the language is spoken, there are no English subtitles for you. The movie is awesome and you totally love it, but at the same time you know that you definitely missed something since there was a good 1/4 of the movie that you didn't understand. You could just see what was happening. Well, that's how I felt reading this book. I absolutely loved it; the narrator was hilarious and interesting and exciting. He had an absolutely depressing and devestating story to tell, and he just jumped right in as if it was any other normal ole everyday happy story. Oscar Wao himself was a totally likable character that you couldn't help but love but for whom you also couldn't help but feel sorry. Sometimes I wished I could be there with the narrator, pushing him in the right direction, urging him to do things just slightly differently. His sister and his mother, while slightly less developed characters, were also exciting to follow. They were both just a little bit more than the average Dominican woman. They both had just a little something extra to add to the table, and, in their own way, their stories were just as fascinating as that of Oscar. But still, this said, I couldn't help but feel that I was missing some basic elementary knowledge needed to really fully understand everything going on. First of all, there was a lot of Spanish used - phrases and words that I just didn't understand. I'm learning Spanish, but I'm not quite there yet. And massive amounts of Dominican history were referenced without ever actually being explain. Maybe it's just me, but I never took a class on Dominican history. I also never took a history class in which we learned about Dominican history. So did I know that the United States had occupied the Dominican Replublic more than once? No. Did I know who Trujillo was before starting this book? No. Did I have any clue why Trujillo was constantly referred to as the Failed Cattle Thief? No. (Do I now? No.) Do I feel that knowledge on these subjects (and many more) would have contributed vastly to my enjoyment and understanding of this book? The answer to this question is a whole hearted YES!!!! I mean, I really feel like I should go take a class on the Dominican Republic (where I have actually been) and its history and then read the book all over again. None of this changes the fact that this book was beautifully written and heart-warming and heart-wrenching.

La Mera Cuerda! by Carlos H. Cisneros Pc (Brownsville, TX USA)

5 Stars
October 28, 2009
When I picked up this book, I had no idea what to expect. So, let me be blunt. This novel will blow your socks off. It's as if it was written by a Caribbean Shakespeare on Coke. You better hang on b/c it is going to be a ride!

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