3.2 Stars

There are a shitload of footnotes, let us just get that out of the way. Also, if you can’t roll with lingo you don’t understand or have to look up, then you’re probably going to be annoyed with this novel.

I dug The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. I feel as if this story is the Dominican Republic’s One Hundred Years of Solitude or our House of the Spirits; it is a text that encompasses a nation, its culture, and its people.It’s about three generations of a family that desperately tries to get away but cannot escape the “fuku,” which is in layman’s terms, a curse. I liked that Diaz included some information on the D.R.’s history and of Trujillo. I feel like many people around the world do not know much about this country but need to in order to understand this family. And for us Dominican readers, seeing our slang words, cultural sayings and history in a novel is great and gives a sense of solidarity.

I think this book is more than Oscar wanting to get laid, which is basically the gist of this novel but there is also so much more.  That being said, I found Oscar to be hella annoying. Jesus Christ, I wanted to beat the shit out of this kid. I understand, it’s hard not fitting into the expectations your culture, people and family have set for you but damn, do you really have to be that whiny? I enjoyed everyone else’s stories and histories except for Oscar. Really, every other character was more interesting than him. I loved reading the female voices in the novel and would have probably liked the book better if the book were about them and had Oscar as a side character.

All in all, it was a decent read. (Also, I have to represent the Dominican writers, especially since there are so few of them in the mainstream, American literary game.)

Quotes: “It’s never the changes we want that change everything.”

“For the rest of his short life he existed in an imbecilic stupor, but there were prisoners who remembered moments when he seemed almost lucid, when he would stand in the fields and stare at his hands and weep, as if recalling that there was once a time when he had been more than this.”

I chose to pair this novel with Ballast Point‘s Grapefruit Sculpin because it is a great combination of old and new flavoring, much like Diaz weaves old school Dominican culture with new. Citrus flavoring and hops are usually always a win and the slightly bitter aftertaste is there to remind you it’s an IPA (in case you forgot due to the awesome grapefruit aroma and flavoring). It is reminiscent of all the instances I started to enjoy the novel and then I would read Oscar’s sections and start to like it less. I like drinking this when it is super cold.

Format: Paperback.