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The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

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The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

By: Junot Diaz
Narrated by: Karen Olivo, Various, Lin-Manuel Miranda
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About this listen

 Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, 2008.

Things have never been easy for Oscar. A ghetto nerd living with his Dominican family in New Jersey, he's sweet but disastrously overweight. He dreams of becoming the next J R R Tolkien and he keeps falling hopelessly in love. Poor Oscar may never get what he wants, thanks to the Fuku - the curse that has haunted his family for generations.

With dazzling energy and insight Diaz immerses us in the tumultuous lives of Oscar; his runaway sister Lola; their beautiful mother Belicia; and in the family's uproarious journey from the Dominican Republic to the US and back.

Rendered with uncommon warmth and humour, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a literary triumph that confirms Junot Diaz as one of the most exciting writers of our time.

©2007 Junot Diaz (P)2008 Recorded Books LLC Contemporary Fiction Genre Fiction
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Lin-Manuel Miranda says the n-word in this audiobook a lot of times. He does a very good job at narrating, but I think they should have gotten a black person to do it.
Karen Olivo also does a good job at narrating, but in my opinion, her voice is too perfect for this story. Her voice has no character in it, it's just flawless, like Siri.
It's a good book about Dominican culture and history. It's not the sort of thing I usually read, but it was enjoyable.

Lin-Manuel Miranda says N-word.

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I have seen this book on many must-read lists. I was impressed by the reading and it is a great story, sad, poignant, all the things I like in a book. Listen and enjoy!

A joy of a read

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Beautifully read. Some have expressed concern over the amount of Spanish, but I think it works well in emphasising that sense of estrangement for those of us reading from an outside perspective. Love the underlying nerd narrative. For me, that was a wonderfully accessible aspect of the novel.

Both disturbing and engaging.

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Really interesting and clever.The characters were really strong and the narrative history of the Dominican Republic was really interesting. Funny, heart breaking, believable and clever.

Could not stop listening

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enjoyed this book a lot but blown away by the narrator who just nailed it.

I've never listened to a book where the narrator makes it even better

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