The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz, tells the tale of Oscar Cabral, an American-born Dominican whose family is haunted by a fuku, or curse of the worst kind. Oscar's takes the form of perpetual heartbreak; he is obese, nerdy to the extreme, and obsessed with every woman who walks by. On his way to becoming the forty-year-old virgin, he fills his life with roleplaying games, sci-fi movies, daydreaming about women, and writing, his four great passions. As the narrative follow Oscar's life, Diaz also spins the tale of Oscar's mother and sister's lives. This book won the Pulitzer Prize, which leaves me a little surprised. I really liked it, but I've read better books that have received less praise. I think it might have won because of Diaz's style; he has this really fresh, conversational way of writing that I thoroughly enjoyed. The only issue, for me, is that he intersperses Spanish sayings to the point where I wasn't always be sure what he was saying; the context didn't always provide enough clues, which was annoying.
What I loved about this book: the funny sci-fi, fantasy, and comic book allusions (even though I probably only understood a quarter of them); all of the information about the Dominican Republic's history (specifically the time when Trujillo was in power); the story Diaz wove; and, most of all, the overall themes of family ties, one's roots, and destiny. Try as Oscar, his mother, and his sister might to leave the DR behind them, they are undeniably, and uncontrollably, connected to the island. Even though each goes through their own personal diasporas, none of the Cabrals can outrun their history, or their fates, but can only, as Oscar learns, go forward and focus on finding "The beauty! The beauty!" of a life dedicated to pursuing love.
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