Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

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<./I> 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.

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Customer Reviews

Average Customer Rating:

Dirty Book	Customer Rating:
Extremely disappointing use of the English language from a Pulitzer Prize winning author. His loose and unpretentious voice was inhibited by constant vulgarity and dirty images. This novel, in no way, compares with the greatness of To Kill a Mockingbird or The Grapes of Wrath. It is a good novel that misses greatness.

Wanted to Love it...	Customer Rating:
I wanted to love this book and I did in some parts. I enjoyed reading about life in the Dominican. The writing at some points was gorgeous. Didn't mind the Spanish phrases. It just sort of didn't go anywhere at the end, for me. It was a little long and not much of a payoff.

Bittersweet but at times frustrating

Customer Rating:

This funny/sad narrative of the family and friends of Dominican Oscar, an overweight sci-fi nerd, is a mixed bag of treasure. Each chapter is narrated by a different person in his life -- his sister, his mother, his college room mate, and of course himself -- and laced with Dominican history, to give insight into his "cursed" life. Parts are very touching, and other parts laugh out loud funny. Be warned though: if you are not bilingual or at least well-versed in Spanish, the book is heavily laced with spanish phrases that go unexplained (there is no glossary of terms -- maybe there should be). It is also filled with references to sci-fi and fantasy novels and role-playing games which may also be frustrating if you are unfamiliar with that genre. Still the characters are compelling and the stroy interesting. There is pleanty to enjoy -- just grab a contemporary Spanish-English dictionary and a Google the sci-fi references. :-)

Oscar Wao Sucks	Customer Rating:
Worst book I ever tried to read. Put it down in disgust after only 4 chapters. Lots of Spanish words not translated and huge boring footnotes trying to explain situations or references to people.

WOW! I loved it!	Customer Rating:
I just finished reading about Oscar & his familia - real characters I know that I've met. Wonderful storytelling - weaving in DR history (that I didn't know) - and sending me to the Spanglish dictionary several times. Truly a great book!