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Junot Díaz
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Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Paperback – 2 March 2009

by Junot Diaz (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars 7,177
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A literary triumph - winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Things have never been easy for Oscar. A ghetto nerd living with his Dominican family in New Jersey, he's sweet but disastrously overweight. He dreams of becoming the next J.R.R. Tolkien and he keeps falling hopelessly in love. Poor Oscar may never get what he wants, thanks to the Fuku - the ancient curse that has haunted his family for generations, dooming them to prison, torture, violent accidents, and, above all, ill-starred love.
With dazzling energy and insight Diaz immerses us in the tumultuous lives of Oscar, his runaway sister Lola, their beautiful mother Belicia, and in the family's uproarious journey from the Dominican Republic to the US and back.
Rendered with uncommon warmth and humour, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao presents an astonishing vision of the endless human capacity to persevere - and to risk it all - in the name of love. A literary triumph, this novel confirms Junot Diaz as one of the funniest, warmest and most exciting writers of our time.
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  1. Print length
    352 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Faber Paperback
  4. Publication date
    2 March 2009
  5. Dimensions
    12.6 x 2.1 x 19.8 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    0571239730
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0571239733
  8. See all details
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Product description

About the Author

Junot Diaz was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He is a graduate of Rutgers University and received his Master of Fine Arts Degree from Cornell University. His collection of short stories, Drown, was described as 'a dazzlingly talented first book' by Independent on Sunday. He teaches creative writing at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Faber Paperback; 1st edition (2 March 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0571239730
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0571239733
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.6 x 2.1 x 19.8 cm
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 out of 5 stars 7,177

About the author

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Junot Díaz

Junot Díaz

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Junot Díaz was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in New Jersey. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Drown; The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award; and This Is How You Lose Her, a New York Times bestseller and National Book Award finalist. He is the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, PEN/Malamud Award, Dayton Literary Peace Prize, Guggenheim Fellowship, and PEN/O. Henry Award. A graduate of Rutgers College, Díaz is currently the fiction editor at Boston Review and the Rudge and Nancy Allen Professor of Writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
7,177 global ratings

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Top reviews from Australia

Anne Connolly
5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant book, beautiful writing; raises the bar for literature.
Reviewed in Australia on 11 November 2015
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This writer has given us a gift. Diaz transcends culture beautifully but does not take short cuts. His story is told from the experience of someone from the Dominican Republic living in the USA but everyone can feel what the characters feel. His sporadic insertions of Spanglish are insightful and well placed. He pushes us to explore the culture with Spanish inserts. It is through the extra work that we have to do as readers that immerses us in this world and we want more. Poor Oscar - there is some of him in all of us. This is sad, hilarious and so full of life.
This book is truly brilliant.
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Sydney1981
3.0 out of 5 stars Average...
Reviewed in Australia on 10 August 2015
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I liked this book...but I also didn't. I found the author's use of Spanish to be excessive (for an English translation), and interrupted the flow of the story. Many a time I had to reach for google translate to try and work out what was being said (there was often little context to even attempt to work it out).
The story itself is good - took me until page 67 to really get into the story - after that it was a page turner. Not really sure how it came to win the Pulitzer to be honest.
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Jo Vraca
5.0 out of 5 stars So beautiful
Reviewed in Australia on 25 February 2017
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I didn't know what to expect but I got everything I could have hoped for. What a terrifically beautiful book!
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ron thomas
3.0 out of 5 stars Very macho and highly stereotyped characters
Reviewed in Australia on 2 September 2020
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Over the top characters and plot, good insight into Dominican Republic. Paper thin characterization. Too much Spanish inserted.
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Elizabeth Short
3.0 out of 5 stars Challenging .
Reviewed in Australia on 13 April 2014
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So many characters , so many places , made me concentrate rather than just be entertained . My first meeting with Junot Diaz , I wonder if there is time remaining in my life to meet him again .
2 people found this helpful
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Nicola Cook
5.0 out of 5 stars Important literature. Brutal sometimes but entertaining and great characters.
Reviewed in Canada on 3 January 2024
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Bought as a gift for friend who loves great literature. Brilliant brilliant book based in the reality of D.R. Deserved the Pulitzer! Some heavy stuff but that’s life. Amazing characters that you get to know well and empathize with.
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Lucia
5.0 out of 5 stars Greatest book in recent years.
Reviewed in Spain on 19 September 2023
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Now, here is at last a good book, a great book! Latin American realismo magico with a strong historical background and such a rich, rich wording. Real literature, words, not images. An author with his own voice, like no one else. I loved this book!
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lucastulio
5.0 out of 5 stars Pra quem prefere romances
Reviewed in Brazil on 29 October 2019
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Apesar de ser um bom livro, e tendo lido os outros dois do autor, acho que o Junot Diaz se sai melhor no formato stories. Quatro estrelas para o conteúdo, e cinco pelo produto, arte da capa e leveza.
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DOLORES V PAREDES
5.0 out of 5 stars Brutal
Reviewed in Mexico on 6 April 2018
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Una interesante mezcla de culturas, lugares, creencias religiosas/supersticiosas, actitudes e idiomas, así como traer a colación esas referencias bastante nerds de cómics y libros de Tolkien.
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jgerardo23
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing book
Reviewed in France on 6 March 2019
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One of the best books i read last year... it has everything, it's funny, dramatical, with some really interesseting history backround from from the Dominican Republic... and specially very well written
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