The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Review

Yes, I've officially completed one of my goals for Bout of Books 10: finishing The Brief Wondrous Life :)

Actual rating: 3.8 stars or 76 %
Oh... Oscar! This book was both extremely sweet and relaxing to read and also extremely frustrating at the same time. I loved Diaz's modern style of writing, and especially all his nerd references to LOTR and other famous nerdy things (which finally caused me to realize how much I was of a non-nerd compared to someone like Oscar). The constant imperfection of Oscar [he's fat, and not willing to change. He's the sweaty Dominican-American teenager who knows more about Marvel then Stan Lee knows himself. He longs for a girl(any girl that would glance at him for even a few seconds, or not even look at him at all), and will fall hopelessly in love many many many times just because.] also drew me in because Diaz portrays him as a fat ghetto nerd on one side of the spectrum, but then goes so exceedingly in depth about his character so that we realize the complete and utter intensity of which is Oscar Wao.

I have Dutch, nigger, and English in me,
and either I'm nobody, or I'm a nation.
-Derek Walcott

This is one of the quotes in the beginning of this novel, a portion in which I didn't read until I had finished the book. The concept that you are either nobody or a nation resonated deeply with me because Oscar was both. We saw his character development from the very beginning, when he was nobody. And then after all the stories, all the digging into his family history and the background of his relatives was found, he became a nation. Then, after deciding to change his life, he became a separate type of nation. He would live life, yet would he?
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao drew me in not only because of the simplistic cover page, but also the title. The idea that life could be brief, yet at the same time still wondrous and amazing, wasn't exactly an idea I completely agreed with. I agree with that now, proven by the life of Oscar Wao.
I loved Diaz's style of writing and how he constantly connected with the reader. He would talk about himself in first person not only in the elaborate footnotes (which I loved to read, even though for the most part I didn't understand) but also in the text itself. He... rescued Oscar. He made it possible for me to connect with him on an emotional level through all the different POVs that he ran through while writing.
This book, although wondrous, was not absolutely perfect. No book is, after all, and I'm here to not only point out its brilliance, but also its flaws. Reading got a bit tedious at times with all the history and the connecting until everything was just a jumble of lines that were interconnecting inside my brain. It felt like a chore, at times, just to hurry up and finish this novel because it took me so long.
Not only that, the constant barrage of Spanish words annoyed me because I had no idea what they meant, and I was forced to just skip them and move on. At points, the constant sex references and cursing got a bit crude, though for the most part it was never a problem for me. The ending was a unsatisfying for me, even though I had learned to expect it.
I expected Oscar to die in some magnificent way, for his values and beliefs and all he cared about. In a way, he did. But not the way I was expecting.
Even after saying all that, I still believe that overall, this book is a complete treasure.
This review can also be found on my Goodreads.