Sunday, January 11, 2009

The virtual book club picks its first read of 2009

Cynthia and I took suggestions and we met last week to discuss the title recommendations. We decided on the book that seems to be on every one's mind (including my own) and that is Junot Diaz' pulitzer prize winning novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Over the next several weeks we will be posting book club questions and leading discussions through posts on the blog--we encourage your participation via the comment feature.

For now go get your copy of the book. If you already own it/read it, I encourage you to revisit it and log on for the book club discussions. Look for the first book club questions to be posted next Monday (1/19/09).


book synopsis
Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd who—from the New Jersey home he shares with his old world mother and rebellious sister—dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love. But Oscar may never get what he wants. Blame the fukú—a curse that has haunted Oscar’s family for generations, following them on their epic journey from Santo Domingo to the USA. Encapsulating Dominican-American history, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao opens our eyes to an astonishing vision of the contemporary American experience and explores the endless human capacity to persevere—and risk it all—in the name of love.

reviews
"An extraordinarily vibrant book that's fueled by adrenaline-powered prose...[Junot Diaz has] written a book that decisively establishes him as one of contemporary fiction's most distinctive and irresistible new voices." --Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

"Panoramic and yet achingly personal. It's impossible to categorize, which is a good thing. Diaz's novel is a hell of a book. It doesn't care about categories." --Los Angeles Times

"Superb, deliciously casual and vibrant, shot through with wit and insight. The great achievement of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is Diaz's ability to balance an intimate, multigenerational story of family tragedy...The past and the present remain equally in focus, equally immediate, and Diaz's acrobatic prose toggles artfully between realities, keeping us entralled with all."

1 comment:

Maureen Kelleher said...

Yay! Great choice. Inspired by Irasema's Facebook comments, I read it over Christmas and couldn't put it down. Can't wait for the virtual book club next week.