The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

I think I may have been one of the few people who actually liked this novel from the beginning. It was a little slow at first, but I felt like it had a lot of potential and I pushed through it. Good thing too, as the novel is rather remarkable. It did win a Pulitzer Prize after all. 

The idea of a language barrier came up a lot in our class discussions. And while I found the Spanish excerpts slightly vexing at first I barely noticed them by the time I finished the novel. A lot of the time I was able to pick up on the gist of what was being said and other times I felt completely shut out. But having finished the novel with the Spanish throughout, I don't think I could see the novel the same way without it. 

I liked most aspects of the novel, but I found the whole sci-fi angle more frustrating than the language. I'm really rather oblivious to all things sci-fi and fantasy, so some of the allusions to the Lord of the Rings and such were way over my head.

I liked the style in which Diaz wrote this. I especially liked that we were given the opportunity to look into all the characters lives and see different aspects of the novel from more than one point of view. This kind of writing reminded me a lot of a novel I read a few years back called Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros. It mostly chronicled the life of a young girl and her family as they traveled back and forth between living in the U.S. and living in Mexico. 

Some people in class also brought attention to the fact Oscar was going to die in the end, which from the title, we all knew was true. But I had completely forgotten that detail as I read the novel, that is until I reached the point in book where he attempts suicide. And I would have been rather frustrated if his attempt had turned out to be successful, as I felt that would have left too many doors open in the end. 

And speaking of the end of the novel, I quite liked the ending. Yes it was sad, but at the same time it was satisfying. All loose ends were tied up and I wasn't left questioning anything. That's the kind of ending I go for.