At Barnes & Noble last weekend I picked up Junot Diaz's "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao." I wasn't at all familiar with the book, but the fact that it was a New York Times Best Seller AND a Pulitzer Prize winner caught my attention. I picked it up and the read the synopsis and I was sold.
"The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" is about Oscar a "disastrously overweight ghetto nerd" who's a huuuge sucker for love. The book tells the tale of Oscar and his mother and his rebellious sister Lola. We read about his relatives in the Dominican Republic and the "fuku" that has haunted his family for years.
It is a story that is both tragic and comical. And aside from being a great read "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" also gives readers a brief look at the history of the Dominican Republic. A history that I have personally never learned about in high school or college. Anybody familiar with Rafael Trujillo? I had never even heard of him before reading this book.
But reader beware, this book is so good that you might end up with a brief case of readers depression. You know, that feeling you get when you're done reading a really, really good book? The sadness, the "Damn! It's over already?" If your readers depression lasts longer than a week then hit me up for a list of some other great books. You'll snap out of it then :-)