5. It is written by Junot Diaz
Junot Diaz is a Creative Writing professor at MIT. Known for his uncontrived commentary on Dominican-ness, Diaz is deeply impressed by the vestiges of a Trujillo reign (of terror) that left the Dominican Republic paralyzed. A Pulitzer Prize winning author, Diaz is blunt in his prose and "transfigures disorder and disorientation with a rigorous sense of form" (NYTimes). I picked up my first Diaz a year ago and immediately fell in love. The title was "This Is How You Lose Her," a collection of short stories with brutally honest accounts of troubled relationships.
4. It is full of dorky nomenclature (and Star Wars references)
If you are a secret dork, then this is the book for you. From the Jedi's light saber, Anchorman to the apocalyptic series the End of the World, the book is full of peculiar references only a true dork can get. To emphasize Oscar's dorkiness, our narrator Yunior claims, "He could tell you the difference between a Veritech fighter and a Zentraedi walker."
3. It is a comment on hyper-masculinity
The book is a bleat on the cultural expectations of "being a man." Through this book, Diaz aims to change the antiquated definition of the phrase 'manly virtues'. From the outside, the discourse seems to be orbiting Dominican men alone (The narrator's excuse for having been a cheater is that "He's a Dominican"), however, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao through a portrayal of the "specific" is revealing that we have encultured our "boys" to wear an "iron mask of simplified masculinity" as a rendition of power.
2. It has a healthy amount of "fuku" weaved in
Diaz describes "fuku" as "a Curse and the Doom of the New World". From the inception to the deception of the book, from Santo Domingo to New Jersey, the pioneering characters -- Oscar, Lola, Belincia -- invite calamity to wherever they go. Diaz successfully weaves fuku and zaga, a combination of myth and curse, as a driving force of the story. He says, "It's perfectly fine if you don't believ in these "superstitions". In fact, it's better than fine -- it's perfect. Because no matter what you believe, fuku believes in you."
1. It is wondrous in oh so many ways
The Brief Wondrous life of Oscar Wao is about love, struggle, relationships, perseverance and culture. It is bewitched and bewitching, radiant and radiating, inspired and inspiring. In simple words, it hits the right chords at the right time. As the NYTimes said, "In the book, Diaz wrings the heart with finely calibrated restraint."
