Reading List Completists discussion

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz starts today. Feel free to discuss it here.

I’m looking forward to this. I decided that I will spend 2021 reading some of those overhyped books that I never read, and this is one of them.

Overdrive had an available copy so I am going to start this today before I even start the January book. Doing things a bit backwards here!

Oooh, I'm excited! I've been wanting to read this book forever!

I made it through Part One Chapter One today, and Oscar is something. I am very curious about this omniscient narrator. Is Oscar hyper-sexualizing girls because he is that kind of dude, or is the narrator’s personality creeping in there? And who is this narrator? It’s clear he knows Oscar in some way but how does he know his thoughts? How is he omniscient? I am really loving the Spanglish littered throughout, with absolutely no explanation of what is being said. Contextual clues help, but thank goodness for the kindle definition feature!

I read this at the end of 2020 so I'm looking forward to everyone's thoughts. I will say it wasn't what I expected.

Paula W wrote: "I made it through Part One Chapter One today, and Oscar is something. I am very curious about this omniscient narrator. Is Oscar hyper-sexualizing girls because he is that kind of dude, or is the narrator’s personality creeping in there? And who is this narrator? It’s clear he knows Oscar in some way but how does he know his thoughts? How is he omniscient? I am really loving the Spanglish littered throughout, with absolutely no explanation of what is being said. Contextual clues help, but thank goodness for the kindle definition feature!"

I am at just past the halfway point and without revealing any spoilers, we do find out who the narrator is about halfway through, which is a bit unique, but this whole book is rather unique.

I don't think Oscar is a bad dude at all, but it's kind of the society he is growing up in. He's a super geek, which is so the opposite of what the Dominicans think of as the real "man". I think he has an idealistic and juvenile view of girls (at least at the beginning). To me, he's trying to make sense of his own feelings and what society is telling him about how he should treat women. With the leader of their country treating women as property there to meet his every need regardless of their own feelings, I can see why Oscar is stunted in his view of women.

Okay, so I finished it and at first glance, I would say I'm surprised that I was caught by the book as much as I was. It seems very misogynistic, which normally would turn me off, but my sense is that the author is saying this is what the Dominican society was like both during that time period and this is how many of the people had to deal with it, male or female. It certainly was not an easy life, but how much harder was it for these "regular" folks to make the hard choices. I can't say I "got" the whole book, but I think this is a book I need to read, put down and reread at a later date, appreciating more the second time around. I also read his short story collection that was in the same book as this one and there are definitely some nuggets in there as well. It looks like some of the stories in that collection stood out more for some than others and for me, it was very interesting to read the reviews after I read both of these books.

I’m struggling to want to read more of this. I am about halfway through the mom’s backstory and, honestly, I’m not engaging like want to be.

Paula W wrote: "I’m struggling to want to read more of this. I am about halfway through the mom’s backstory and, honestly, I’m not engaging like want to be."

Paula, you should try the audiobook read by Lin Manuel Miranda (of Hamilton fame). He brings humor, action, and sadness to life so well. I would take the longest way home when I listened to that. Every minute was riveting. It's the best audiobook I've ever heard. I think his version may be exclusive to audible.

I finished a few days ago but have not yet had time to collect my thoughts for a review.

I listened to it, but not Lin Manuel Miranda - that does sound interesting.

It is a book that some may have a difficult time listening to because of language and the depiction of women. But it is a very indepth historical fiction novel with lots of the history and culture of mid 1900s Dominican Republic. So, if it is true to the times and the way people talked . . . it might be tough to swallow, but its real!

I enjoyed the history. The story was okay, but not a lot of payoff in the end. There was a lot of intricate and indepth build up that seemed to suddenly end without and real point being achieved.

I hope to write my review today, but I think I am going to be giving it 3 stars

Matthew wrote: "I finished a few days ago but have not yet had time to collect my thoughts for a review.

I listened to it, but not Lin Manuel Miranda - that does sound interesting.

It is a book that some may hav..."

I tell people if they listen to it, make sure kids aren't around! I thought it was great for the historical context and what it's like to be desperate to leave the place you're from only to feel disconnected when you're somewhere new.

I tried to start Oscar Wao in 2018 and quickly set it aside. I'll take a deep breath and give it another go.

This is the link to the Miranda audio on audible if anyone wants to try a sample. It's more highly rated than the other version. It has a higher percentage of people who rated it 5 stars.

https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Brief-...

I just realized I never came back to the thread to share my review!

Here it is:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Here's my review! https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Sue wrote: "This is the link to the Miranda audio on audible if anyone wants to try a sample. It's more highly rated than the other version. It has a higher percentage of people who rated it 5 stars.

https:/..."

I listened to the other version because it's what my library had available and I thought he did a decent job. Probably not Miranda level, but it was pretty good for a very odd book.