The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz

Oscar Wao is not your average Dominican kid. First of all he's fat. He can't get a girl no matter how hard he tries. He reads a lot, especially fantasy, sci-fi and comics. He uses erudite words when he speaks, such as I'm embarking on a new cycle of my life. We writes. He plays at dungeon and dragons. There's only one word for him. Nerd.
The book, though, it's not just about his life. It's about his parents and grandparents, who lived their lives in a country ruled by the super dictator Trujillo, and who suffered what some people call fukù, a curse. Once you get the fukù, there's no coming back, your life is doomed. So you pretty much know from the start that this is not going to be a happy story.

What I didn't know is that there was so little about Oscar. Or at least not enough. I enjoyed the harsh, colloquial style, I didn't mind the footnotes, because being footnotes they can be ignored when necessary, the Spanish wasn't too hard to guess and for the rest there's the internet, and the fantasy/sci-fi references were ice-cream for the eyes. I flew through the first part thinking this was the best book ever. THEN, it skipped few years and went to talk about his mother, and then his grand-parents, and then his aunt. Only then it goes back to talk about Oscar. There's also a brief chapter told through Oscar's big sister Lola, which I also enjoyed. But I was eager to get to know Oscar more, to be with him a bit more, and there wasn't much time. You know, his life is brief.
So, this is not to say I was bored reading about his family. I 'd actually love to re-read it knowing that the story is a much broader one, but on the first round I was too impatient to get back to the Oscar bits to fully enjoy the rest of the characters stories.

Now, having said that...I was happy to learn more about the Dominican history. I'm one of those who never even heard of Trujillo, nor of the Haitians persecutions. It wasn't easy to read about all the violence, but at least it was realistic and informative.
What I was more uncomfortable with was the role of women in the stories. Not the violence against them, but the way they reacted to it. I get it that that's the way it was back then, and it is still, in some ways. But I would have wished that, at least, some of them would react against it.
Lola's character is a good one, strong-minded and ass-kicking. But she also is guilty of some acts I couldn't defend. So there was definitely a lack of really good female characters.
Still, I finished the book thinking it was awesome, despite of its flaws.
Oscar is the ultimate anti-hero, and is utterly charming. I loved the way he talked, how he put all his energies and passion in everything he did. I wish I could read his books. I can't believe none of the women that crossed his roads managed to see that. Well, except one, maybe.

I could have read about him for ever. . I'm sure we would have been friends:)

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Three shades of disappointment

I've been avoiding talking about some books that have disappointed me in different ways and degrees. So instead of dedicating a full review to each of them I'll just briefly share why I wasn't so impressed like I had expected (damn those expectations!).

I'll start with the biggest disappointment which is The Owl Service by Alan Garner. In theory, it hit all the right notes:
- Carnegie Medal winner
- Use of Welsh mythology
- Reputation for being a haunting, but lyrical story.
Instead it failed to grip me completely. I kept reading, waiting to be charmed at some point, but it never happened. I feel like I must have missed something, and it bugs me. What I remember instead is a storytelling that was disjointed and confusing. For example the main characters' behaviour was puzzling. Many strange things happen, but instead of them trying to talk about it and understand what is happening straight away, they don't seem immediately concerned.
For this, and for many other reasons, most of what happened was lost on me, until I did some research on line to find answers to my questions.
There was never a moment when I felt really close to the characters, and that was a big factor. And the ending left more questions than answers.
So, in conclusion, it was a frustrating read. I so wished I understood it more, because I feel like I missed out on something special.
For a proper reviews on in and a complete different opinion, read Nymeth's. She obviously saw something in it that I didn't.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini was a different kind of disappointment. I didn't dislike it. I thought it was alright. Just alright, that's the problem. After all the magnificent reviews and feedbacks and sales etc...I thought I was in for an unforgettable read. I was sucked into it pretty quickly. I really liked the first third of the book, maybe half. Then it started to decline. I wasn't gripped or fascinated anymore. At times, I was even a bit annoyed at how blatantly dramatic it was.
I have to admit that it gave me a greater understanding of life in Afghanistan before and after the Talibans had taken power and I feel more emotionally connected with the Afghan people's oppression now. I loved being wrapped up in this country's scents, flavours and sounds. But I failed to connect with the narrator, probably because I never forgave him for what he did as a child. I know it's a story about redemption, about how hard it is for the narrator to even begin to forgive himself. But I guess he could have become a saint after and I still wouldn't have forgiven him...so, maybe it's my fault again.
For full reviews and different views see here:
Maw Books Blog

1MoreChapter

Blue Archipelago

Dog Ear Diary
Melody
The 3 R's: Reading, 'Riting, and Randomness
Dewey
Alessandra
Michelle

The third and final disappointment is of a different kind altogether. It's a stylistic disappointment toward what announced itself to be an astoundingly beautiful piece of writing: The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry. Shortisted for the Booker Prize. Recent winner of the Costa Book of the Year. It has being received amazingly well by the press and the public. So how come I didn't like it?
Because I thought the writing was pompous, overly metaphorical, and, after a while, tedious, in every sense of the word. There were some very beautiful parts, but the overall feeling was of heaviness, and (I don't like being so harsh but it has to be said) boredom. I read it all, because I was told there was some sort of twist, of big surprise. But again I was disappointed. I had consider the possibility of that twist already, which is never good.
I'm not saying this is utter rubbish. I know plenty of people who are completely enthralled by this kind of writing. I'm just not one of them.
Other opinions:
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Please, feel free to agree or disagree with me and give me the link to your review. I'm happy to show different sides of the story!

Fun Home - Alison Bechdel

I really enjoyed reading this graphic novel memoir. It seems like the only form where I find memoirs entertaining is this. But while I was swept away emotionally by Persepolis, here my appreciation has been more of the intellectual kind.
I can't say how many times I had to write down words I didn't know, to be looked up later, because it would be embarrassing. But it gives you an idea of the richness of the language.

It's a deeply honest, witty and insightful exploration of of the author's complex relationship with her father, of how it shaped her whole being from her early age till her father's sudden death, and how it continues to make her reflect on her personality in relation to his. It's also a very intimate account of her personal sexual awakening, which reaches its peak the moment she realises she is a lesbian. This epiphany is also the trigger to another revelation, which will make her reconsider all her life

I felt like this memoir was a necessity, something it needed to be done, for Alison Bechdel to connect all the dots, to forgive and understand, and to record how her family's life was shaped by a long series of literary allusions, from The Addams Family to The Great Gatsby, from Proust to Joyce.

I can relate on many levels with Bechdel. I too had to grow up with a father whose personality was (and is) bigger than life. He too has molded my early literary loves, and it's him I see in my earliest and most vivid childhood memories, more than anyone else, even more than my mum. He was very controlling and probably depressed too. Although, fortunately, I didn't develop any obsessive-compulsive disorder because of that, as far as I know.
I also related to her freshman year in college, where she was astonished by the need of every English lecturers to find hidden symbols and metaphors in literary works. I laughed my socks off when she mentioned Heart of Darkness's gender interpretation (Congo = vagina, Marlowe's boat= penis), because that was exactly what my first English class in college was about! But I was intrigued by all these new layers of meanings, while Bechdel's reaction was more like "why can't we just read the books?".
As I mentioned, this book is packed with literary references, but what it really made me want to go and read is Homer, both the Iliad and the Odissey. I'm not sure I'm ready for Proust yet and I will probably never be ready for Ulysses.

The art was great. It's detailed, expressive and just perfect to balance the complexity of the text. It has very strong lines which work very well with the gray-green watercolours. As Bechdel said "(this colour) has a bleak, elegiac quality" which suits the tone of the book.

I'd love to re-read it one day, and maybe in Italian to capture all the nuances of the language and of some turn of phrases that I'm sure have eluded me!


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other reviews:
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Another List, a.k.a. EW’s New Classics Books Perpetual Challenge

Another list! I've been meaning to post this for ages, but I didn't find the chance. Now here's my chance: a challenge about it, hosted at The Review from Here.
Oh how I love these lists, even if they're incomplete, even if they make me feel like I wasted my time and never read the books that count, even if I will never complete them.
Anyway, this challenge is a perpetual one. Just cross the books off as you read them. I know I'm really bad with these perpetual thingies. Just look at my Booker Project...Basically I just read whatever, and if it happens to suit the project, fine. Otherwise, I won't make any more efforts towards it. I expect to do the same with this.
(In Italics those on the tbr shelf).

1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars’ Club, Mary Karr (1995)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
12. Blindness, José Saramago (199 8)
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
16. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (198 8)
18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)
19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
20. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)
21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)
31. The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien (1990)
32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (198 8)
33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
36. Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (199 8)
39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)
43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (198 8)
44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Green (1991)
45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (1998)
46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)
47. World’s Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)
52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)
55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
56. The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)
57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)
58. Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)
59. Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
61. Money, Martin Amis (1985)
62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)
63. Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)
64. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)
65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)
66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)
76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (199 8)
77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)
81. Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)
82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
84. Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)
85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)
86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)
87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
89. Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)
90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)
91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)
93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)
94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)
95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (199 8)
96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)
98. The Predators’ Ball, Connie Bruck (198 8)
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)

[In red the books I've read after joining the EW challenge]