To be completely honest, it was a struggle for me to make it to the end of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Not because I was frustrated that things were lost in translation. Not because I couldn't stand the mother. Not because deep down I was able to associate with the loneliness of Oscar. It is simply because I did not like it.
Don't ask me why. Frankly, I'm not sure.
From the start, I prepared myself for something amazing. I mean, Pulitzer's aren't dropped down stairwells at high schools like invites to a big party. They're a big deal. So I guess when I heard that this novel had won a Pulitzer, I was expecting something above and beyond many of the novels I had read in the past. That is probably where my problem started. Once I became confused that the material wasn't remarkably more intellectual or sophisticated than what I had read in the past, I had a difficult time appreciating it at all. I understood the story and appreciated the difficulties the characters went through, I just didn't appreciate the style of writing, and I thought that the footnotes were often overwhelming and in a sense took away from the story itself.
There must have been something spectacular in his novel that I just didn't find that amazing in order for him to receive a Pulitzer. All in all, I am not overly impressed with Junot Díaz. Lucky for him, I'm not an accredited critic.
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