The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

“The Brief wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” by Junot Diaz is a great book that focuses on the life of Oscar Wao and of his family as they live their hardship filled lives in the Dominican Republic. But not only do they live in the Dominican Republic, they live in the Dominican Republic during the reign of the infamous dictator/tyrant Rafael Trujillo. This book has a very interesting story that runs through 3 generations of a family. They believe that their misfortunes are brought down from a curse called the “fuku”. A very interesting aspect of this story is how most of our protagonists aren’t very “good” people. Oscar is a fat nerd who only wishes to someday have sex, his sister Lola, runs away from home and goes to live with her abusive boyfriend. Not a very feel good story but it

is one that will keep you turning pages. I would highly recommend this book since it’s story is one that will not only leave you shocked but it will teach you a lot about the Trujillato (the time when Trujillo was in power). Reader discretion is advised, this book has lots of very strong language and mature topics.