#13 in Contemporary fiction
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
- 347
- Pages
- about 6 h
- Reading time
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
- National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction
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About the book
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a 2007 novel written by Dominican American author Junot Díaz. The novel is set in New Jersey in the United States, where Díaz was raised, and deals with the Dominican Republic's experience under dictator Rafael Trujillo. The book chronicles the life of Oscar de León, an overweight Dominican boy growing up in Paterson, New Jersey, who is obsessed with science fiction and fantasy novels and with falling in love, as well as a curse that has plagued his family for generations.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.5 across 508 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 77% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Contemporary fiction average of 7.6. That is how 7.6 comes out. A further +0.10 comes from the small bonus for major awards.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.1 | 36 | 7% |
| Google Books | 9.0 | 18 | 4% |
| Hardcover | 7.4 | 454 | 89% |
Reader voices
The most-liked reviews on Hardcover (credited to their authors).
“I feel so outraged after reading this, how can you create such beautiful characters and still make the book about yourself? This is probably the most conflicting book I've ever read. On one hand the first 4 or so chapters are some of the most…”
“A wonderful read, even as an English speaker I understood most of the Spanish, which made for a particularly exciting narrative. I loved every minute of it.”
Frequently asked
How long is The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao?
It has 347 pages — shorter than 58% of the ranked books in Contemporary fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Contemporary fiction — with scores between 7.4 and 8.1, closest to this book.
