Awards: Pulizter Prize
Outstanding Books for the College Bound List
Grade level:
Pages: 352
Lexile level: 1010L
Summary: Oscar Wao is a Dominican-American living in Paterson, New Jersey, he struggles to fit in with the Latino community and finding his identity as well as love. Lola, his sister, rebels against her mother and is sent back to the DR to live with her grandmother. During a flashback to their mother's adolescence in DR, we learn that she falls in love with a gangster, the relationship puts her life in danger so she leaves for the US. During college Oscar becomes withdrawn and depressed. He takes a trip back to the DR where falls in love with Ybon. He runs the same fate as his mother, his love relationship is life threatening, except that Oscar's life is taken. Before his death, Oscar sent letters to his family and friends in the US, they compile them and make a book.
Reader's response: The book is narrated by Yunior, the protagonist college roommate. The novel also includes flashbacks that tell about Oscar's mother and grandparent's lives during the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic. Some parts of the novel are narrated by Lola, Oscar's sister, in a 2nd person point of view then switch back to 3rd person. All the character are connected through their Dominican heritage. The narrator includes side footnotes, DR history, and quotes from other books. It was very interesting how the book was written in different points of view from different characters and how it took sudden flashbacks to tell stories from the past that mold the stories from the present.
Other books by Junot Diaz:
Vocabulary List
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