The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao--by Junot Diaz


How do you recommend a maddeningly effective, poetically observant, richly lyrical narrative when the subject matter is like a perversely hilarious blow-by-blow account of a marginalized character's daily degradation into a spectacularly depressing tragic end? Read this if you're craving a fresh voice to rescue you from the malaise of most contemporary fiction. However, be warned of the epic calamities doled out to three generations of a Dominican Republican family even while their lives are MCed by the hippest, funniest, irreverently clever, knowledgeable, and wise narrator. Media darlings usually disappoint me, but Junot Diaz is a mesmerizing talent. I only wish Diaz doesn't lavish his gifts on such a downer on his next novel.

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