The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
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| The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao | |
 First edition hardcover |
|
| Author | Junot Díaz |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Riverhead |
| Publication date | September 6, 2007 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 352 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 1594489580 |
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) is the debut novel by Dominican-American author Junot Díaz. Although a work of fiction, the novel draws heavily from his rough childhood in New Jersey and his homeland's experience under dictator Rafael Trujillo.[1] It received numerous positive reviews from critics and went on to win numerous prestigious awards in 2008, such as the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Plot introduction
The novel chronicles not just the "brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao," an overweight Dominican boy growing up in New Jersey and obsessed with science fiction, fantasy and women, but also the curse of the "fukú" that has plagued Oscar's family for generations and the Caribbean since colonization and slavery. The middle sections of the novel center on the lives of Oscar's mother Beli and his grandfather Abelard under the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. Rife with footnotes, science fiction and fantasy references, and street Spanglish, the novel is also a meditation on story-telling, Dominican diaspora and identity, masculinity, and the contours of authoritarian power.
[edit] Critical reception
The book won the National Book Critics Circle Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2008. Time magazine's Lev Grossman named it #1 of the Top 10 Fiction Books of 2007, praising it as "a massive, heaving, sparking tragicomedy".[3]
[edit] Interviews
Slate: [[1]]
Powells: [[2]]
Other Voices: [[3]]
NPR: [[4]]
NPR: [[5]]
[edit] References
- ^ Stetler, Carrie. "Pulitzer winner stays true to Jersey roots", The Star Ledger, 2008-04-07. Retrieved on 2008-04-07.
- ^ Muchnick, Laurie. "Junot Diaz's Novel, 'Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,' Wins Pulitzer", Bloomberg, 2008-04-07. Retrieved on 2008-04-08.
- ^ Grossman, Lev. Top 10 Fiction Books. Time Magazine Online. Retrieved on 2008-04-08.
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by The Road by Cormac McCarthy |
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2008 |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
