The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

by Díaz, Junot
ISBN: 9781594483295
5 (4)
Availability:
$7.99
Used - Trade Paperback - 9781594483295

Available Offers

Ship to HPB West Lane Avenue Out of stock at HPB West Lane Avenue Check other stores
$1.99 - Ready for pickup Apr 11 - 14
Ship to Me
$3.99 - Get it Apr 11 - 14

Overview

Winner of:
The Pulitzer Prize
The National Book Critics Circle Award
The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award
The Jon Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize
A Time Magazine #1 Fiction Book of the Year

One of the best books of 2007 according to: The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, People, The Village Voice, Time Out New York, Salon, Baltimore City Paper, The Christian Science Monitor, Booklist, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, New York Public Library, and many more...

Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read

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 fuk --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 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.

  • Format: TradePaperback
  • Author: Díaz, Junot
  • ISBN: 9781594483295
  • Condition: Used
  • Dimensions: 8.01 x 0.90
  • Number Of Pages: 368
  • Publication Year: 2008

Customer Reviews

Rating Snapshot

5 ★   100%
4 ★   0%
3 ★   0%
2 ★   0%
1 ★   0%
5
4 Ratings

0

0% Would Recommend
0 Recommendations

Review Images

Sort by:
Filter by:

  • An amazing narrative voice

    David S. - 1 year 10 months ago

    The storytelling in this book is unlike anything I've ever read. The narrator emerges as a character in his own right as he spins a rich and compassionate story that centers on the life of his unusual friend. The loose, slangy style took a little getting used to, but it was definitely worth it.

    HPB Staff Review

  • All Oscar wants is love and happiness, but there's this curse

    Silas C. - 4 years 3 months ago

    Disguised at first as a casual romp through the life of a young nerd named Oscar, Diaz unveils the literary equivalent of chaos theory. Immediately, we fall in love with Oscar, and we see how the world around him complicates his life in full Murphy's Law fashion, from his troubled sister to his tortured mother, to his inability to meet society's expectations of masculinity. Somehow, Diaz has beautifully created a pageturner somewhere between joy and longing.

    HPB Staff Review

  • A tale of a Latino's experience as he journeys from his homeland to the U.S.

    Severo C. - 4 years 4 months ago

    Junot Diaz's multi-award winning book is a nimbly versed, tragi-comic epic which follows young Oscar as he journeys from the Dominican Republic to New Jersey; love to heartache and comic books to Doctor Who... "there and back again." The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao will embrace anyone who identifies as a Latino, nerd, immigrant and truly any DREAMER in every sense of the word.

    HPB Staff Review

  • A must-read for any nerd!

    Eric H. - 7 years 10 months ago

    Recently declared the 21st century's best novel to date, TBWL is a must-read. Diaz's hero is the nerd-king Oscar - more comfortable reading Tolkien than being around people. Dominican history, New Jersey, and Afro-Latino culture meet sci-fi and tabletop gaming. A brilliant, new take on the American experience.

    HPB Staff Review