Junot Díaz’ The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. At least one reviewer called the award safe
. I’ve seen that attitude from a few literary types, including a former co-worker at the bookstore. The line goes something like this: awards should go to books that need the publicity. In other words, awards do not go to books that are good. I realize the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Many great books do not get the buzz they deserve. On the other hand, the criteria for most of these awards does not include no one has heard of the book
. One or two do, but not the Pulitzer. Anyhoo, to Paul Constant over at the Stranger, stuff it.
However, I have mixed feelings about the book. It’s the story of a fat Dominican nicknamed Oscar Wao. He doesn’t have the game with women that, according to Díaz, is built in to every Dominican male. He retreats into science fiction, role-playing games, and other assorted geekery. Gives up on his own life.
Díaz writes with raw language. Cuss words in both English and Spanish. Pretty frank descriptions of barrio life. While not the first to do this, it’s still refreshing. The language gives the book a very immediate feel. He also includes liberal doses of geek references, many of which only fellow travelers will get. I’m half-geek, and more than a few went over my head. Díaz also includes footnotes on the life and dictators of the Dominican Republic. I liked all of these touches.
Where I have really mixed feelings is about Oscar. He is a quintessential loser. He’s a loser so much he doesn’t even claim victim status in order to get special privileges to excuse his loserdom. He expects to die old, fat, and a virgin. At times I really got in to him. But a lot of times it felt like all the boringness of watching such a loser in real life.
A blurb on the book also called this the immigrant saga for people who don’t read immigrant sagas.
I didn’t feel like it was all that different from some of the other immigrant sagas I’ve read. Other than a lack of a rise to and conclusion with the family in middle-class to upper middle-class respectability after being subjected to racism and economic hardship, this felt a lot like every other immigrant story I’ve read. An admittedly small sample size, but still. It’s not a huge drawback though because the point of this story is not about the family making its way in the first world. The focus is Oscar. So it’s somewhat different, and somewhat the same.
I’m glad I read the book, but it wasn’t an unqualified success for me.
Title: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Award: 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Award: 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction
Author: Junot Díaz
Imprint / publisher: Riverhead / Penguin
Format: Hardcover
Length: 335 p.
Publication date: September 2007
ISBN-10: 1-59448-958-0
ISBN-13: 978-1-59448-958-7
Subject: Dominican Americans — Fiction
LC classification: PS3554.I259B75 2007
