by Junot Diaz
My Rating: n/a
"Our hero was not one of those Dominican cats everybody's always going on about--he wasn't no home-run hitter or a fly bachatero, not a playboy with a million hots on his jock."
Review: This is not the first book I have been unable to finish and it certainly won't be my last. It is however, my first review of a book I have been unable to finish. Just to give you some perspective, the last book I was unable to finish was 50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James and before that was Me by Ricky Martin. Otherwise, it's rare for me to start a book and NOT finish it. This means it takes A LOT for me to put down a book and be resigned to leave it unfinished.
This book, as a male friend described to me, is like a modern-day Catcher in the Rye. I am inclined to agree with him. This is a boys book. It's not to say a female couldn't or shouldn't read it, I'm just saying that some books tend to be more girly than others, therefore men won't be drawn to it. The same can be said for this book. Although I've more women reading it than men. If I can be more specific, I've seen more Hispanic women reading it.
My review of the book will only come from the first 150 pages since that is all I read before giving up entirely. One of the factors that caused me to stop was how long it was taking me to read it. If I'm headed into the second week and I'm not even at the half-way point then something is not right. The story of a man coming into his own through various life experiences is a good one. I was a little confused with the character change from Oscar's point of view to his sisters. I'm sure there's a valid reason for this and there probably is a going back and forth between different characters point of view, I just found it distracting.
The dialogue is a mixture of English and Spanish, something else that turned me off to the book. I've never read a "Spanglish" book before and I don't think I ever will again. It helped that I know Spanish quite fluently but to the average person who might not know Spanish but wants to read this book because it's a bestseller and everyone else is or already has read it, I suggest having a handy English/Spanish dictionary with you. Some of the dialogue, if you don't know Spanish, could be easy to decipher based on the surrounding sentences, but I'm usually not looking for a book that has me over analyzing the words instead of the meanings behind them.
Then there's the footnotes. And I'm not talking one or two sentence footnotes, I'm talking paragraphs so long the footnotes go on to the next page and even then might take up more than half of it. I understand there is some important facts that run parallel to the timeline of the book, but it was too much and confusing to have to go forward one page to finish the massive footnote then turn back a page to find where the indication of that footnote was, so you can pick up where you left off.
Lastly, I must mention the lack of quotation marks around the dialogue. I'm guessing there was a specific reason for this that someone who has heard Junot Diaz speak would have the answer to. I would be surprised if during some Q&A he wasn't asked about this very thing. Now, maybe I'm not as smart or well read as I think I am, I have read many classics and bestsellers in my day, but this one was just not to my liking. I'd say it's a hit or miss with this author but in reading other peoples reviews they tend to lean the same way I am, so I'm glad I'm not the only one.
Maybe after I've read a few other books that are more to my liking I will give "Drown" a try which was his first published book, a collection of short stories. In the meantime, I will add this book to my short list of those I have left unfinished.
Synopsis: This is the long-awaited first novel from one of the most original and memorable writers working today.
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 fukú – the curse that has haunted the 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.
Diaz immerses us in the tumultuous life of Oscar and the history of the family at large, rendering with genuine warmth and dazzling energy, humor, and insight the Dominican–American experience, and, ultimately, the endless human capacity to persevere in the face of heartbreak and loss. A true literary triumph, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao confirms Junot Diaz as one of the best and most exciting voices of our time.
To learn more about Junot Diaz, please visit his site.
I'm very sorry you didn't like this book--it is one of my favorites from last year.
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