A brief and wondrous review of Oscar Wao

This past summer, one of good friends was getting after me constantly- well, maybe not CONSTANTLY, but on a regular basis- to read Junot Diaz's The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. After selling some books in September, I had a bit of store credit at the glorious Montclair Book Center, so I picked up a copy of Oscar Wao (for like 12 bucks. Glorious, I tell you). Once I started actually reading it, a few weeks later, I found that it was, in fact, nigh impossible to put down.

Now, with my buddy's enthusiasm for the book, the 'Pulitzer Prize winner' sticker on its cover, and popular and critical acclaim from everywhere the populous and critics gather to do their acclaiming, I knew at the onset that I was supposed to like this piece. And I did, don't get me wrong. It's not the book's fault that its reputation precedes it (well, I guess that's arguable), and that it's staggeringly easy to become saturated with information about stuff like books, movies, etc. before giving them a glance yourself (she said before proceeding with her own review...). It's just an aspect of increasingly democratic access to information I spose. Anyway.

I'll start at the end (a very good place to start): I didn't emerge transformed from reading Oscar Wao, as I was half expecting. No doubt, Diaz crafted a fantastic story that informed, entertained, and made the pages fly at an alarming rate; but it wasn't one of those books that forces you to sit down and take a breath to re-align yourself with reality when you're done (if you're one of those people who reads standing up...).

But like I said, I enjoyed reading it: the geek references that have made the tale of the 'ghetto nerd' so famous are indeed pretty sweet. First, because it's great fun for the reader who recognizes them, and second, almost conversely, because it reminds us what a nerd is. Over the past couple years, pop-sci-fi shows, super hero comics and movies, and the fantasy genre have gotten fairly popular, even, dare I say it, trendy (there's a possibility I'm biased here). Knowing the Fantastic Four's encyclopedia of back story or intense familiarity with the geography of Middle Earth have become things to show off. To girls even. Hot ones. The rise of geek chic (the fact that that term even exists...) signals that the established lines between cool and dork are blurring. And yay for that. But on the other hand, we can't ignore the reality that these badges of nerdly honor are just that- badges- and that nerd PEOPLE still exist, catch flack, don't have friends, basically, are trapped in a state of junior high. Oscar Wao reminds us that to be a nerd, a nerd in the purest sense of the word, is not cool. It sucks. And no amount of fandom or knowledge or talent can take away or add to one's core nature, be that smokin' awesome, hopelessly clueless, or a moderation between the two.

Another prominent feature of Wao, the incorporation of Spanish slang, seemed to be an issue of non-contention in the reviews I encountered; that is, I've seen plenty of posts asking 'Did the Spanglish ever become a problem for non-Spanish speakers?' to which NO one replied in the affirmative. I don't know if Diaz made this choice to inspire research into the language or make it difficult for non Spanglophones or what, but I LOVED the way he fused the Spanish and English together. I've spent some pretty significant chunks of my life in Italy, and I found myself doing the same thing, borrowing words from one language to use in the other or beginning a sentence in one language e finirla con l'altra. On language- I get the impression that, especially in the US where bilingualism is rarer than it should be (this is changing though I think), we forget that language doesn't exist for itself. It's a tool we use to communicate with each other. So, stuff like perfect grammar (which I admit, I'm a fan of. Not totally though, you watch where I put that preposition), an impressive vocabulary, a knowledge of the parts of speech- all of this is secondary to getting an idea from your head to some one else's. And if you have to break rules, use only 'to be' verbs, or cross into other languages to that, congratulations, you're reaching a fellow human. And that is the point! So, another high five for Diaz- he does a masterful job of using the languages at his disposal to communicate. Hm, maybe that's part of why he got such mega props...

If I haven't already made this abundantly clear: the narrative of Wao rocks, it's such a fun read. Well, except for all the atrocity and violence... engaging, it's an ENGAGING read. The shifting point of view and nebulous voice of the narrator was, I thought, really fresh, and now that I'm writing this, I'm thinking I might add 'Oscar Who?: Narration in Oscar Wao' to my list of papers to write. And, I learned more about the Dominican Republic here than I have in any classroom or conversation. And knowledge is power, folks (but it can't make you cool).