>>Go back a page
Books : The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
See Larger Image |
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by: Junot Díaz List Price: $14.00 Childrens Bookshop Price: $8.40 You Save: $5.60 (40%)Prices subject to change. |
|
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54 EAN: 9781594483295 ISBN: 1594483299 Label: Riverhead Trade Manufacturer: Riverhead Trade Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 352 Publication Date: September 02, 2008 Publisher: Riverhead Trade Studio: Riverhead Trade Sales Rank: 73 Related Items:
     see moreBrowse for similar items by category:
Editorial Review: Product Description: The most talked about—and praised—first novel of 2007, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd who—from the New Jersey home he shares with his old world mother and rebellious sister— dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love. But Oscar may never get what he wants. Blame the fukú—a curse that has haunted Oscar’s family for generations, following them on their epic journey from Santo Domingo to the USA. Encapsulating Dominican-American history, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao<./I> opens our eyes to an astonishing vision of the contemporary American experience and explores the endless human capacity to persevere—and risk it all—in the name of love. Amazon.com Review: Amazon Best of the Month, September 2007: It's been 11 years since Junot Díaz's critically acclaimed story collection, Drown, landed on bookshelves and from page one of his debut novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, any worries of a sophomore jinx disappear. The titular Oscar is a 300-pound-plus "lovesick ghetto nerd" with zero game (except for Dungeons & Dragons) who cranks out pages of fantasy fiction with the hopes of becoming a Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien. The book is also the story of a multi-generational family curse that courses through the book, leaving troubles and tragedy in its wake. This was the most dynamic, entertaining, and achingly heartfelt novel I've read in a long time. My head is still buzzing with the memory of dozens of killer passages that I dog-eared throughout the book. The rope-a-dope narrative is funny, hip, tragic, soulful, and bursting with desire. Make some room for Oscar Wao on your bookshelf--you won't be disappointed. --Brad Thomas Parsons Average Rating:
 Rating: - "Out out brief candle"Many stereotypes from our urban landscape fail to make it into the contemporary novel, especially a Pulitzer Prize winning novel. The overweight guy who sweats his way through marathon sessions of Dungeons and Dragons and has about as much social grace as he has girlfriends is surely one of them. To be able to mold an entire narrative around such character, so that by the end the reader is interested in this character's fate, is not easy. But in the The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz ... Read More: Rating:  - New classicI picked it up based on the hype and while my Spanish is weak I still could follow the flow. The audio version is great as you can hear the sound of the Spanglish. BTW if you ever doubted that Spanglish is the next hot Vernacular of the street, this book will cure you of that doubt. If you have not been to the Mex border, Fla, or spent time in an NJ city this book will leave you confused by its mix of Spanish and English. A bigger warning is if you have no background in comics, ... Read More: Rating: - Not So Brief, But Just As WondrousJunot Diaz hammered the nail right on the Dominican head in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. A curse that was born out of love and fear, that follows a family for generations, and ends with tragedy kept me glued to this book (and away from my homework unfortunately). For those who don't like to read subtext (as there are a lot in this book) I'd recommend that you read through it anyways, as the author adds a lot to the background story. Overall, it was well worth the 3 days of reading. Rating:  - Self-indulgent and throws away its inspirational powerThe Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is an interesting window into the life of the Dominican Republic. Unfortunately, its protagonists are anti-heroes who get carried from one tragedy to another without making the smart choices that would inspire us or make us identify with them. I don't mind a story that ends with a downward turn, if it reveals something about life (Angela's Ashes) or has a clever ending we don't see coming (The Sixth Sense). If the point of the story was to knock down people who glorify ... Read More: Rating: - One of the best bad novels or one of the worst good ones?Part of the pain of this book is realizing that my life was so similar to Oscar's. Diaz is a brilliant writer, juggling historical nonsense, emotionally deformed characters and dense relationships. But at the same time the book has a super heavy feel. Like Oscar himself. And, like Oscar, there's a fundamental question -- sure, it's challenging to try to get at his core, but is it really worth the challenge? Oscar is a heavyset loser who seems to be going balls out to try to be the biggest ... Read More: |
|
welcome to the Childrens Bookshop, here you will find a great resource for Books for the whole family. Children love Books and there is no better time to introduce Books than from a few days old. We have one of the largest selections of quality children's Books, and a wide range of educational toys, puzzles, games, music and audio books. We can help select Books specifically for your baby, children or even your school or library. We offer New and Used Books giving you great savings on High Street Stores. We pack and post to the UK, France, USA & Germany.. We have also partnered with Amazon and are able to provide a very wide selection of New and Used items. Please browse our extensive collection and take advantage of our great discounts and savings offered.