It took at least a dozen fun sized bags of M&Ms as self bribery to get me to finish this book. Don't get me wrong, I loved it, but the entire experience of reading it was very bittersweet. I managed to get through the bitter by snacking on some sweets.

"The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" is an epic novel. It should be at the top of every book lovers list of books to read. Hands down, one of the best stories I have ever read. The character development was astounding, by the end of the novel I had true insight into their motivations, not an easy task for any writer to accomplish. Filled with Dominican cultural references and Spanish ghetto slang, the book lends itself to authenticity in a way I have not seen before. Well paced, the story is divided up into multiple sections all focusing on one character, although the other characters do intersect in the stories. This method breaks up the monotony of a story from only one perspective. Each section ends on a suspenseful note leaving the reader wanting more.

What the reader does not want more of is footnotes. The one award this book hasn't won is the gold medal for longest footnotes known to man in a fictional novel. Really, its obscene. I approached the first footnote with good intentions of reading and learning from it. What I learned was not only the life history of Trujillo ( the tyrant ruler of the Dominican Republic), but that after a page and a half of microscopic typeface in the form of a footnote, I forget what the heck I was reading about to start with. Time to grab some M&Ms folks.

I don't know about you, but I elected to take French in High School. Little did I know that a decade later I would be kicking myself for not taking Spanish instead. I honestly believe that I missed out on some great lines in the book because I couldn't understand the dialogue which was at times, heavily peppered with Spanish slang.

I've never read a comic book, and I don't know anyone who has. I didn't care for Lord of the Rings, and I certainly didn't read the books. Oscar Wao did though, and he makes endless references to his geek culture. This book introduced me to "The Watchmen" as one of the greatest graphic novels of all time. Instead of the author making one reference to geek culture, he did what a geek would do, listed 4 or 5 references. I understand the intention, and it can be charming at times, but in the end its frustrating.

Keep in mind that some of the best novels of all time are real killers to read. It doesn't have to be a cakewalk to rock your world. This novel was worth the trouble, in fact, its flaws added to it as a whole. Buy this book, dig in, and keep reading even when those footnotes make you want to scream.

What's it about?

"The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" is about a Dominican ghetto nerd living in New Jersey. He is looking for his own epic love story, although it always seems to elude him. He dreams of becoming the next J.R.R. Tolkien and writes with passion every chance he gets. Nobody in his family understands him, he has trouble even understanding himself. To make matters worse he is haunted by a Dominican curse on his family: the fuku. We find out all about the fuku and how it came to be placed upon his family, as well as how it is ultimately what makes Oscar Wao's life so wondrous, and so brief.