The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

I don’t think I am the target audience for this book. I liked the parts that dealt with the family history, the story of Oscar’s mom and the setting during Trujillo’s reign of terror (for those interested The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa is a good historical fiction account of those years). I liked the story of Lola. Where I think the book fell short was the story of Oscar. Maybe if it had been first person I could have developed some sort of affinity for him, but as it was I saw him as most of the main characters in the book saw him - someone who refuses to help himself when he is surrounded by people who want to help him. And, as I said, I don’t think I am the target audience for this book. I don’t mind a few phrases in another language through the book. It can really give a setting or character a feeling of authenticity, but a little goes a long way. I basically had to read it with Google Translate open and ready to go. I get that this is on me. I don’t speak Spanish and that’s my problem, not the author’s but nonetheless it greatly distracted from the flow of the book.

This was a funny tragic story of a family that suffered so much. Love the strength of the female characters - although their physical descriptions made me feel ick. Such a heavy hand on the physical beauty side of things. The footnotes were a great addition. Just felt so much heartache for them all. Loved the different points of view and narrators.