The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

9.5/10 dropps

The short prologue of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao introduces the
reader to the concept of “fuku” – a Dominican term for a curse placed upon an
individual and his family. It tells us that the only remedy is to implement “zafa,” a
counter-spell, to undo the harmful power of fuku, and it is revealed that the narrator
is writing about Oscar in order to incur this zafa.

Junot Diaz subsequently unfolds what might be my favorite novel written in
the last decade. He tells the story of Oscar’s family, and their fall from grace in the
Dominican Republic under Trujillo (and for those of us whose Dominican history is
rusty, numerous entertaining footnotes are provided). We learn the story of how
Oscar’s family came to settle in America, as the reader is introduced to one of the
most tragically endearing characters I’ve ever read.

Oscar Wao is a nerd. He is overweight. He has few friends to speak of and he
spends all of his time playing Dungeons and Dragons, watching anime and writing
fantasy literature. He can’t get a girlfriend to save his life. But the narrator (whose
identity is initially unknown to the reader) depicts Oscar as a truly genuine person
who just needs to catch a break.

While the focus is on Oscar, the objective of the novel is ultimately to tell a
much larger story. The fourth-wall narrator often sits out entire sections of Oscar’s
story at a time, so that the tale of Oscar’s family and the Dominican Republic can be
conveyed uninterrupted. Within these segments, some of Oscar’s family members
take the reins of the story. Occasionally, chapters will be interrupted so that a
member of Oscar’s family can quickly interject and correct what they perceive to be
an error on the part of the narrator.

This book never once dispenses the illusion that the reader is listening to
someone who intimately knows the titular character. Comic book, fantasy and anime
references are frequent. Spanish slang is used interchangeably, but the language is
never a detriment to the story.

The book is both hilarious and exceedingly tragic. More so than with virtually
any novel I’ve read, the characters stay with you long after you’ve finished it. For the
entirety of the novel, Oscar’s ultimate outcome is known, but you won’t be any less
heartbroken when his fate comes knocking.

-John Jamieson