The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz: Critique

            Being assigned to books are never fun because most of the time it’s completely boring and definitely not something I want to read. It’s always a complete struggle getting through the readings for an assigned book so when I was assigned to read The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz I was not happy. I looked at the cover and thought to myself; well this looks like another boring book. However, I was in for a big surprise because little did I know that I would absolutely love reading this book.

            Right from the start I was completely captivated by this book. I got attached to each character as their story was told. I felt so bad reading about Oscar and his loner days. I mean he made his life the way it was by toning all his attention into comic books and nerdy stuff and letting himself go into a complete slob but at the same time when he was trying to better himself he kept failing so he just gave up. Lola’s story came next and here I was able to get into her head when she described her relationship with her mother and what she went through with her. Her story also made me sad because personally I am very close with my mother and I’m able to open up to her and she never judges me so harshly. But here Lola was constantly being put down by her mother that it comes to a point where she had enough and just runs off with a boyfriend. Reading her story made me dislike her mother a lot but then when her mother’s story came my sympathy grew as I realized the reason behind her being so cold. Her mother, having born into a cursed family was neglected and the people who adopted her burned her and treated her harshly. However, she was recused by La Inca, who became her “mother,” and La Inca nourished her back to life. Beli was always grateful for that at the beginning but as she started to grow older and got a voice of her own she became a complete rebel like her daughter Lola. Only thing was, La Inca never treated her cold but Beli just had a mind of her own.

            This novel ended up being so touching to me because I could feel what every character felt. It was like I was there with them experiencing their struggles and as each character came upon a new journey in their life I was there right by their side. I was actually able to finish this book pretty fast because I could not put it down and I would definitely recommend this book to anyone. It really gets in your head and ends up making you appreciate your life a lot.