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Book Review of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
reviewed on + 13 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4


This is a story about Oscar, an overweight virgin, and his family who originally came from the Dominican Republic.

All through the book I questioned "What kind of reader does this book appeal to?" I could never really figure it out. Without giving away my true age...I grew up during the 70's and 80's, in a moderately geeky style, and I recognized some Twilight Zone and Middle Earth references but many were completely lost on me. A semester of high school Spanish did not cut it. I found it a little distracting to stop and try to translate a fair amount of Spanish and some words that may have just been slang. I wish the author had worked many overly long footnotes into the text of the story, I think he could have.

Overall, the book kept my interest with its unique writing style. The story was more about a family than about Oscar whose life I did not find all that wondrous.