The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz REVIEW

[@ShannySumner]

I absolutely adored this book... beautiful & heartbreaking!

[@JuanReads]

I believe The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is the best novel of the last 20 years. Recently, I've been thinking of rereading it and after watching your review I've decided to make it one of the next novels I pick up.

[@danielventura2538]

Great read Junot Diaz is an amazing writer.

[@warlockofwordsreturnsrb4358]

I'm sure I've said this before, but I must read Oscar Wao very soon Congrats on your engagement by the way!

[@yvettem.holland5072]

Yes, Congrats on your engagement 😊

[@arihunta]

Ah, great to hear you talk about this one! Read it last year and absolutely loved it. I kind of put this book into the same 'immigrant story' category in my head as The Joy Luck Club or Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake, but it's so different from them. So rich--the Dominican history, the characters, the genre references, and the language--there was just so much to take in and appreciate here. It touched on the cultural differences across the generations, but they weren't the focus here. I found it a huge help to read this on Kindle, so I could get easy translations of the Spanish that was mixed in, which was very cool. Not sure I'd have loved that as much without the Kindle look-up. But the English prose as well, is so casually poetic. Early on, talking about one of Oscar's crushes, and 'the way she laughed, as though she owned the air around her'...**chef's kiss**. Tbh I wasn't always sure which side of the "lovesick fool"/"creep" boundary Oscar was on. But really, you couldn't not love/root for him. Now time to go read this T S Miller essay :D.

[@christinacascadilla4473]

When I read the novel I kept thinking, “I wish I was reading this in a college class because I really need a professor explain all the meaningful parts I must not be noticing on my own.” The book as okay, but I could not determine what there was that qualified it as great literature. The thing I’ll always remember was how happy I was when I was finished reading it, so I didn’t have to read it anymore. I was going to do more research on the book but before I could the author got caught in the “me too” movement, so I figured that he was a phony and never bothered. Not so sound like Holden Caulfield or anything.

[@novelsandcrumbs3558]

Nothing left to be said after both your reviews. Great experience, great explanation, and even better energy in talking about novels; your passion is unmatched. Keep up the great content!!!!!

[@yvettem.holland5072]

Thanks for this excellent review. You were one of the first Booktubers I loved , and your reviews are still thoughtful and engaging. Keep up the superb work!

[@archaeologydad3761]

Among all the other things it does brilliantly, I think this is the best novel about New Jersey I've ever read. I was born in Jersey and lived there for most of my life. The first time I read this book, the line “...a particularly Jersey malaise--the inextinguishable longing for elsewheres” just hit me like a freight train.

[@TheBookchemist]

You are absolutely right - it's a point that often gets lost in discussions of the book (I myself hadn't fully picked up on it until you mentioned!) but the specificity of the Jersey setting does influence the lives of all the characters, really - and you have Junior's and Lola's different attitudes to the place too... great point!

[@collincolson1614]

You convinced me to give it a try, and I did, and I loved it! That's how this channel works, and it's great.

[@TheMovieSequelDude49]

As someone who has read and enjoyed Junot Diaz's work, I really enjoyed and appreciated this review. I really liked how you handle the recent accusations at the end. It is shame that these events will prevent people from reading his work but at the same time, I really like your take on it. I was conflicted with the accusations too and I'm glad you acknowledged them in the review while still praising the novel on its own merits.

[@TheBookchemist]

Thank you - it means a lot to read this: I'd been struggling for a long time with how to articulate my feelings on the matter, and I was afraid people might not understand my perspective.

[@isawamoose]

“Akira...Watchmen....Frank Herbert...”, as in literally standing in my closet with all the listed art pieces on the higher shelves. Ok man guess I should read this book. “Magic the Gathering....” As I’m literally organizing Magic cards in said closet. My Dominican brother from another brother!

[@gnirrednow]

i read this book because of you! thanks for the rec!

[@roy41688]

Finally!! Ive been waiting for this review!

[@Acilam]

Yunior narrates Beli's experience based on what Lola told him, no? Seeing that Beli told Lola the story of her past ... and Oscar himself made notes and was researching the events!

[@rumasingh7983]

Just got my book a day before, in-fact I always wondered why wasn’t there a review on it. @The bookchemist you just sold me this book for the number of times it makes an appearance on your channel.

[@curioushmm9027]

the brief wonderful life is one of my all time favorite novels..loved hearing your appreciation.

[@tomgou78]

If you are interested in Trujillo's era and the history of the Dominican Republic, you should read "The Feast of the Goat", by MARIO VARGAS LLOSA.

[@DanielaGarridou]

Ditto!!

[@yvettem.holland5072]

Hi Daniela and tomgou78 , could you please tell us a couple things that you love about " Feast of the Goat". I enjoy Latin American Literature but have not yet read that one.

[@tomgou78]

@@yvettem.holland5072 Hi. It ‘s a been a while since I read that book. So, why you should read the Feast of the Goat, one of my favourite books. Firstly, you should know that this is not “magical realism”. It is probably about hell on earth. The hell that the true protagonist of this narrative created ruling that region of Caribbean for many many years. As far as I remember, the narrative concerns two main stories that are taking place the same time: The adventure of Urania Cabral and the assassination of Trujillo. But believe me, Llosa is a very very skilful writer. This is not an easy reading. It’s pace is slow during the first half, with detailed descriptions, many interesting characters that will later define many future events. I won t make any reference about the political stage concerning Latin America, USA, Cuba, etc (it is the context of almost every literary work from this region of our world). This one is describing the torture, the terror, the corruption, and the vanity of existence when living in such times. Its atmosphere kind of reminded me “2666” by R.Bolano. That is all. Have a nice time reading it!!!

[@yvettem.holland5072]

@@tomgou78 thanks very much. You've really sparked my interest. I haven't read Vargas Llosa before , but I'm now eager to read that novel. I've enjoyed Marquez, Allende, Alvarez, and Diaz. I'll soon be reading " Feast of the Goat".

[@TheBookchemist]

Thank you for the recommendation! Interestingly, Diaz is very critical of that book (both through his narrator in Oscar Wao, and in interviews) and has issues with the ways certain political figures from the Dominican Republic are portrayed in it.

[@andrewrussell2845]

One of my favourite reads this year, along with A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (would love to see you review that one!). The narrators voice was incredibly conversational and engaging and the footnotes provided really fascinating nuggets of historical backstory. The Spanglish was a bit of an interruption to the narratives flow and I feel like a glossary would at least have reduced the negative effect of this but then on the upside, it gave the book that unique narrative voice that I initially referred to. Keep up the great work Book Chemist (I've no idea what your actual name is!).

[@TheBookchemist]

My name is Mattia :)

[@ricksanborn6629]

First, Mattia, as a fan of Chabon, Lethem, Delillo and others, let me say how much I enjoy your reviews which offer so much greater depth and insight than I find on my own. I read Oscar Wao based on your recommendation in one of your favorite books videos and can see why you found it enjoyable. I had started it once based on its award-winning status and it really hadn't grabbed me out of the gate. (But then it took me at least a couple tries to get into "The Orphan Master's Son" and that has become a favorite.) A couple thoughts: I don't know if DFW invented footnoted fiction but he may be last author to be able pull it off successfully, having more or less made it his own. And I think having to have a Google translate window open on my phone throughout reading it might have been enough work to have diminished my willingness to research the nerdy references. But all in all a well-crafted and engagingly told story. Thanks for the encouragement to read it.

[@mrl9418]

I liked this one. It did look like 3 tales weaved into one book after the fact, but I still enjoyed it. Also, unsolicitedly, if you want to get nerdy, I recommend watching AJ Pickett vids to become a Dungeons & Dragons expert in a short time

[@nix-pixie]

Hey, think you for the video! But, you have said that Oscar wanted to become a Dominican Stephen King. I will dare to argue here, but as I caught it from the book, he wanted to become a Dominican Tolkien? :)

[@olgasenchyna1234]

Great book! Thank you for your recommendation!

[@Phicxtion]

Ah yes my favourite book of all time. One of the only few books I enjoy re-reading.

[@MrRenardbleu]

I didn't know I was such a nerd until I read Oscar Wao and got all of the references

[@dhritimangiri4092]

I recently read Drown ,loved it alot.I will read this one now. In Drown i liked his connections between stories. Can you please review any Irvine welsh books? And have read any books by Arthur Philips?

[@user-mf1rz9mn3l]

Loved that book!

[@atwoatwoktwo678]

I was surprised by the striking force of description and direct style of the narrative in the book. I had no prior knowledge of the controversy surrounding Diaz so was completely unaffected by that. I also did not have any prior knowledge of DR and it’s history so it was all strikingly new and refreshing for me. Felt slightly disadvantaged by my lack of knowledge of Spanish as it seems it’s been written expecting that the readers will be proficient in Spanish. It’s lucky that I know a bit about Lord of the Rings; not sure how much I had missed in terms of references. Overall a 4.5/5 from me

[@rockyscarlet]

I just finished the book and I think the references that seemed nerdy at the time are not that nerdy anymore. Comics, LoTR, Dr Who and many other have become part of the pop culture. I think you would be considered boring if you don't know who The avengers are. The excessive cruelty towars Oscar seems to me like an American thing.

[@lexisisk8079]

I’ve never hated a book so much in my whole life, couldn’t believe I had to read it for college. Beyond inappropriate and perverted.

[@zackrida5452]

I think the book was very meh , the author kept trying to "shock" me but i live in the third world so it wasn't very effective , the spanish also i think was there to throw people off i read the book after i kept seeing it topping the chart on booktube but i was very disappointed maybe my expectations were too high ? possibly i think the author was trying to be 2smart4me and it didn't really work for me and the pop-culture references wasn't the ace in the hole either but i think the history of the Dominican republic was very interesting and actually i'm going to read The Feast of the Goat next because it fascinated me so theres that

[@jeanlobrot]

I don’t think it’s a stretch to call this the greatest American novel

[@authorgreene]

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao was one of the worst novels I've read. I thought that the narrator made a poor choice for the one to tell the story of Oscar. So much of the book felt forced in the way it was narrated, by a man who (it seemed clear to me when reading it) was not conversant in the things that truly interested Oscar; that's just one of the ways in which it felt forced (for example: many of the pop culture references in general also felt forced, unnatural to the narrative flow). The distance didn't do the main character justice in this case (3rd person omniscient would have worked better in my opinion). I had other complaints at the time of reading. This all surprised me because I thought Díaz's collection of stories Drown was amazing. Maybe I just missed something obvious in this novel, but I found so little enjoyment in my initial experience that I doubt I'll do a second read any time soon.

[@gobbagu]

I literally just wanna make a book that this guy loves. Can I send you the first 50 pages of my Pynchon inspired novel? Please? Help me make it better. The basic idea is a young, spoiled Jewish girl driving around Detroit. But I skip to different characters to "frame" the main story, sorta like Infinite Jest or Against the Day. But half the length, hopefully. Because internet memes and ADD.

[@TheBookchemist]

I'd love to help, but I just don't have the time! Best of luck with it though, I look forward to seeing it on the shelves one day!

[@irena7777777]

The amount of Spanish in this book would go over my head

[@jorgemedina8083]

Trujillo is pronounced tru-ji-yo, not tru-ji-lo.