The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Winner of:
The Pulitzer Prize
The National Book Critics Circle Award
The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award
The Jon Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize
A Time Magazine #1 Fiction Book of the Year

One of the best books of 2007 according to: The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, People, The Village Voice, Time Out New York, Salon, Baltimore City Paper, The Christian Science Monitor, Booklist, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, New York Public Library, and many more...

Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read

Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight, lovesick Dominican ghetto nerd. From his home in New Jersey, where he lives with his old-world mother and rebellious sister, Oscar dreams of becoming the Dominican J. R. R. Tolkien and, most of all, of finding love. But he may never get what he wants, thanks to the Fuk --the curse that has haunted Oscar's family for generations, dooming them to prison, torture, tragic accidents, and, above all, ill-starred love. Oscar, still waiting for his first kiss, is just its most recent victim.

D az immerses us in the tumultuous life of Oscar and the history of the family at large, rendering with genuine warmth and dazzling energy, humor, and insight the Dominican-American experience, and, ultimately, the endless human capacity to persevere in the face of heartbreak and loss. A true literary triumph, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao confirms Junot D az as one of the best and most exciting voices of our time.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Published: 09/06/2007
ISBN: 9781594489587
Pages: 339
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.80w x 1.30d
Award: Hurston/Wright LEGACY Award - Winner
Award: Massachusetts Book Award (MassBook) - Winner
Award: National Book Critics Circle Award - Winner
Award: Pulitzer Prize - Winner
Award: L.A. Times Book Prize - Finalist
Award: Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize - Winner
Award: Dayton Literary Peace Prize - Winner

Review Citations: Library Journal Prepub Alert 05/01/2007 pg. 54
Publishers Weekly 06/18/2007 pg. 31
Kirkus Reviews 07/15/2007 pg. 682
Booklist 07/01/2007 pg. 25
Vanity Fair 09/01/2007 pg. 204
Poder Hispanic 09/01/2007 pg. 79
Time 09/03/2007 pg. 62
Newsweek 09/10/2007 pg. 51
New York Times Book Review 09/30/2007 pg. 9
New York Times Book Review 10/07/2007 pg. 38
Publishers Weekly Best Books 11/05/2007 pg. 28
People Weekly 09/17/2007 pg. 60
NY Times Notable Bks of Year 12/02/2007 pg. 12
Time 12/24/2007 pg. 78
Newsweek 12/24/2007 pg. 16
People Weekly 12/31/2007 pg. 59
Multicultural Review 12/01/2007 pg. 53
Entertainment Weekly 12/28/2007 pg. 137
LJ Best Books of Year 12/01/2007 pg. 73
Booklist Editors Choice/Adult 01/01/2008 pg. 9
Poder Hispanic 05/01/2008 pg. 70
Commonweal 06/20/2008 pg. 26
Entertainment Weekly 06/27/2008 pg. 100
Time 07/14/2008 pg. 68
Vanity Fair 11/01/2008 pg. 112
Entertainment Weekly 11/25/2011 pg. 77

Accelerated Reader Quiz #/Name: 122410 / Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Reading Level: 6.8 / Interest Level: Upper Grade / Point Value: 16