• THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO
• by Junot Diaz
• [rated by PBS readers as #93]
• Pulitzer Prize winner
• 335 pages

Well surprise, surprise. After I quietly wound down and out of Outlander, I considered my options. Or lack of options, if you want to see it that way.

Before starting this 100-book trek, I had considered whether I would read one of these books on the list and then one or two more pulpy things in between. But I wasn’t sure.

I mean, I loves me my mysteries where a mind like mine that wanders hopelessly in a million directions can reorient itself within a paragraph! It’s what those books are written for, God bless um, so you can read 5 pages at the beach.

But then, treat though that might be, could I stay more focused if I just stayed with these highbrow books, rather than satisfying my cravings for literary junk food?

And when that scary day arrives for me to once again tackle Beloved (wow), wouldn’t it be better to read language at least half as dense before it, like a ramp up?

Well who knows, and winding down from Outlander, I wouldn’t have been able to predict what would be a good follow up.

So I did my ritual of picking out a title from my box of green titles and I picked this. It wasn’t something I was drawn to from the list. Even staring at the title didn’t pull me in. But to my surprise, I suddenly became a human obsessed. I literally could not imagine reading anything in between. I wasn’t foaming at the mouth or anything, but I wanted this book in my hands before the end of the night.

I called my local bookstore. They had just sold out of their last copy but could order it for me and it would be in by the next week. Next week?! No. I called my local

library and they didn’t answer but I looked up the hours and knew they were open.

Went over, no book. They could get it by next week. I made the request, got a library card – good thing to have anyway. Went home and called up to the Barnes & Noble

in Santa Rosa, about 40 minutes away. They had it.

A real bonus with regards to this obsessional behavior was that my husband was out at a gig, so I didn’t have to weather the look of supreme dubiousness I would get if I had to tell him I was racing out into the night to get a book in Santa Rosa! Nope, I was spared that. Popped my dog, Poppy, into the car and off we went.

The college student at Barnes & Noble who rang me up told me that she had had to read another one of Junot Diaz’s books for school. I asked her how she liked it. She was honest and said that it was okay, considering that she had to read it. I knew exactly what she meant. We talked briefly. I told her I’d always loved to read, but remembered the utter joy of finishing school and then being able to read whatever I felt like.

Looking at this book, it has won a Pulitzer Prize. This is a huge boost for me. I think I might have mentioned that I was never interested in being in a book club, because I didn’t want to be forced to read something I wouldn’t pick myself. But at one time, I read about three Pulitzers in a row and loved them all to distraction, so I tried to organize a Pulitzer book club in my neighborhood. Sadly, the first book we read was a dud and I think we dropped it after that.

Anyway, I’m jazzed to read Oscar. I have no idea what to expect.

12/12/18

Well, this started off with a bang. Reading a truly unique voicing in a book can really be the shit! Seems to me that you can read about almost any subject if the way it is written about and the language used – kind of explodes in your head.

Diaz does a kind of wonderful thing. He establishes his written Universe and his way of storytelling and then he keeps breaking his own rules. It’s cheeky and it’s fun. All of a sudden, he has an aside with us and then, just as quickly, we aren’t being talked to anymore! The sort of perfunctory way he establishes that and then takes it away makes a statement. “Damn Skippy, I intended to do that!”

He breaks a lot of rules. Probably most importantly, he has the talent to do it.

This book is the story of Oscar, this poor Dominican kid – with an abusive mother and unusual sister – who grows up a little slow, hopelessly nerdy and overweight. He never catches a break. Never. No, I don’t mean till the end of the book. I mean never.

One of the reviews at the start said something to the degree of – in any other hands, this story would be unerringly sad and depressing, but in Diaz’s nomenclature, it is funny and dynamic.

I’m with that. I read a third of the book before I even started thinking about it. I was on the ride.

And then. Sadly, he gets Faulkner-like on my ass. And I hate Faulkner! Suddenly, we break with him and hear life through his sister’s whole life story. I guess it is interesting and still written well, but on the other hand, I’m left thinking, geez. He had a head of steam going with Oscar. Is he bored? Must we break into another person’s story at this point?

I realize that it may all be explained as time goes by. But then, he goes into the mother’s life and that’s where I want to toss the book across the room. I get that she probably has reasons for being as shitty a mom as she is, but nothing so far has led me to want to know about it. I was, in fact, feeling quite happy that she was only depicted through the kids’ eyes. That made her a bit more easy to take.

Ah well, we will see where we end up here. More later.

1/5/19

Almost done with Oscar – about 60 more pages.

I’m sure you are getting that I am no fast reader. I’ve never been fast, even back when I had a lot more time to do it. My life is stupid busy and what’s more, I’ve lost my late night reading abilities a ways back. Some of you who are closer to my age will recognize how you start to distrust that you will remember stuff after you get tired enough.

At any rate, I’m kinda glad I’m busy because this book is relentlessly intense and hopelessly sad. I recognize that the quotes on the front and back of the book say that it would be that sad if it weren’t for Junot’s amazing, bat-out-of-hell writing style. And that’s true. His style is unique and amazing. But after 200 pages, the sad is the dominant thing.

I’m aware of this luster that I have to guard against – the reading of something that others have already called great and worthy of this list. That is a lot to live down for a book and I’m trying to see through that luster; to see what I might think if I just picked it up.

It is searing. I do love how he breaks all the writing rules when he feels like it – who is actually talking to whom, outcomes like future death of a character stated years before that person dies and deep in the middle of a story about them happening now, or a casual ‘I’ stuck in there – who is that? Stuff like that.

I can certainly see why teachers assign Junot Diaz books. It feels very real that Diaz is speaking from characters that we don’t hear from an awful lot, characters that many people see themselves in and thus are liberating by the telling of their story.

A Latina waitress saw me reading this book and offered that she loved it. I got it instantly. His blatant stating of history from this point of view and the things that have seldom made their way into contemporary books must feel unbelievably validating and even liberating to many readers.

There is no question why it got the Pulitzer. This is a major new writer who has gone on to prove himself worthy of all the adoration he gets. This book is unlike any other I have ever read. It’s easy to see why people who were completely taken by this will never forget it. I might never forget it.

Two things will prevent it from being one of my favorites. One is the sheer relentlessness and butchery of every single character in the thing. Though I know, I know, it rings completely with truth. And the second hold out for me is that this isn’t a form I can easily cotton to – jumping around to different voices in different times. I never thought of myself as needing a linear story till I read this one.

I’m glad to have been reading it and I CAN’T WAIT to finish it.

1/12/19

Finished Oscar Wao. Where it had initially been depressing, it ended up even more depressing.

I got it. I got it. I GOT IT!

I’m not sure I can understand the people who said they enjoyed returning to this and reading it again. That would describe a different huckleberry than yours truly. I would, without question, run to a sequel to Outlander first. [I mean, that could happen. Not soon, though.]

So, continuing in my obsessed way, I went to get my box of folded titles. I don’t mind telling you, I was scared. Outlander was long but it was a veritable Disney romp compared to this last little opus.

I told myself that I could make up the rules as I went along with this project. I know my limitations – and if I pulled an even harder title to follow this one, this project could fizzle out pretty darned fast.

The title I pulled was A Confederacy of Dunces. I had read that book and loved it. When people were voting for the list, it was one of eight that I consistently voted for.

But it felt wrong for right now. So I told myself I would pull three titles and pick from them.

The second title I pulled was Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut. I’m almost embarrassed to say that I have never read any Vonnegut. In school, I read some authors that followed in his footsteps, but I was never assigned him.

A huge plus for this title was that I had recently bought it. I don’t even know why. I knew it was on the list but I hadn’t yet decided to read the whole list. Could have been the fact that the two women in my vocal trio loved it and they have lived very healthy, happy lives!

At any rate, it seemed like a great coincidence that I already had it. Plus, without even starting it, it clearly has a whole different rhythm to it and therefore, it stood a chance of clearing my head.

Didn’t have to pick a third title. This was it.