The Wondrous Writing of Junot Diaz

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

I had the pleasure of listening to Junot Diaz read from his first collection Drown a few years ago at Hunter College and even then, I found myself excited to see what he could do with a novel. His prose, especially in the sarcasm and humor he is able to include, is phenomenal. After reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, I can understand why it took Diaz so long to write it. I can only hope it does not take him another ten years or so to write something else.

This novel chronicles the life of a first-generation Dominacan-American named Oscar who loves his comic books and science fiction, as well as the many women in his life – namely, his sister, mother, and grandmother. Diaz frames the novel, which is more like a series of vignettes, as relating to a fuku, or a curse that has been placed on Oscar and his family that leads to much heartache and tragedy. Oscar, and those around him, struggle with what it means to be Dominican, so in that sense this book is a part of the transculturation/diaspora literature tradition carved out by writers such as Cristina Garcia and Julia Alvarez; yet at the same time, this book moves beyond that tradition by including so much humor, wit, and a modern-day sensibility that marks this as the start of a possibly new tradition, one that blends historical fact, mysticism, and fan-boy adoration all into one.

I really cannot say enough about this book and firmly believe that anyone who reads this will be a fan. The Pulitzer Prize Committee made the right decision.

Some Quotes:

“Her rage filled the house, flat stale smoke. It got into everything, into our hair and food, like the fallout they talked to use about in school that would one day drift down soft as snow.”

“You always think with your parents that at least at the very end something will change, something will get better.”

“Juan, the melancholic gambler, who waxed about Shanghai, as though it were a love poem sung by a beautiful woman you love but cannot have.”