Summer Reading

I spend much of my time with a book pinned betwixt my eyes, even during the outdoor-oriented days of summer. I have an inescapable, nigh ineffable sort of problem; one that suggests, in the grand scheme of my life I may like books more than people, in some ways.

Literature always puts out. Remember that.

So. I, the book-whore, have maintained a polygamous life of unprotected readings this summer. So dig this:

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

This novel was recommended to me by a trusted writing professor, one that has read much of my own work, and has a good head for the sort of tragic undertakings I like to read about. Boy is this one ever.

Oscar de Leons, also known as Oscar Wao after an unfortunate Doctor Who Halloween costume, is a grossly overweight Dominican ghetto nerd; he fills his days with Science Fiction and Fantasy novels, anime films, and Dungeons & Dragons. He has but two goals in life - to become the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien, and to find love.

Suffice to say this: he struggles.

The story centers on the de Leons family and the string of terrible luck that follows them from their origins in Santo Domingo straight into Patterson, New Jersey. The novel weaves several family tales together, telling Oscar's story, that of his sister Lola, his mother's upbringing and hardship during the late Trujillo-era of the DR, and that of Oscar's grandfather, who started the whole mess. This fuku, or curse, haunts the family without end, and (of course) makes it near impossible for Oscar to get laid, and what else would such a ghetto nerd want in the world?

Junor Diaz writes with a casual flowing narrative, full of character. The entire novel is told to you second-hand by one of the characters, Yunior. There are few to no quotations, and the whole book certainly has the feel of a spoken narrative. It's littered with nerd-culture references, as would befit the title character. Something in the story rings of Garcia Marquez, the sort of magical realism flavor that you'd find in one of his novels is present in the life of Oscar Wao. The fuku, La Inca's powerful Voice and Gaze, the supposed supernatural evil of Trujillo (Fuckface) sprinkles the book with a mystical undertone.

Oscar Wao's story is a supremely refreshing contemporary novel, and a history lesson that goes untaught in most American public schools. Did you know about Trujillo's salughter of Haitians based on pronunciation of the word "parsely?" Or anything about the hideous racism in the Dominican Republic? Yeah, me neither. The name Trujillo was never mouthed in any of my history classes.

But anyway.

There's a reason that this novel won a Pulitzer. Read it. I promise it's good.