SPOILER ALERT- DON'T READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO

If you haven't read the book by the extremely talented Junot Diaz please skip this post be I will be discussing the ending of said book.

Here we go. I'm giving this book 3 1/2 stars. Keep in mind I give the Cather in the Rye 4 1/2 stars.

I loved the book but I thought the ending was lacking. And I thought the character of Oscar needed a little more chuztpah. Is that the word? Or bigger balls. But i could definitely relate to Oscar. I didn' t really date in high school or Junior high for that matter, but only obssessed over extremely hot unnatainable blond cheer leaders who I'm sure are on the way to Cindy Mcain land.

But let's get back to poor sexless, friendless, D&D loving, Oscar Wao. The apparently Un-dominican Dominican. I loved the story about Oscar and his sister and Junior and his mother in the DR when she was growing up and rebelling and the story about her father.... and how he tried to save his family against the great evil of the dictator. ....BUT WHY GIVE ME AN ENDING WHERE OSCAR SACRIFICES HIMSELF FOR A STREET WHORE? I felt a little cheated to say the least. Give me a break, anybody can assume that Oscar would have gotten his nut off in the DR on any of his visits at the age of 12 and up......via any hoochie. And here is the big clue regarding the ending. Notice how Junot Diaz, ahem, sorry, I meant Junior backtracks to explain that Oscar finally had some sex and didn't die a virgin. See, at least if Oscar would have gotten some before, then I could maybe buy his sacrifice. Are you telling me Oscar couldn't have gotten a regular hoochie in Patterson or even a prostitute??? Yes a PrePagada...lol Okay what about a stripper? If he would have met her at at strip club it could have been more belieaveble. So it was his turn to rebel and do the crazy shit that his sister and mother did when they were younger, and follow the curse which he wouldn't survive because he was the male of the family??? And I know he was looking for love and he got what he always wanted from that girl, even if it was brief, but I just don't believe that kept his holyness or saintliness or whatever you call it from leaking out of him. You are actually telling me that Oscar would have never met some nerdy girl that was into D&D and comics and all that shit online????? I knew a lot of nerdy dudes (myself included) who's first real relationships during their nerd days was with equally nerdy girls from canada they met online. And maybe they met or never met, but still that still does count as experience. Having online or phone game helps you get real game eventually. I feel like Oscar could have died for a different cause, rather than dying by just simply confusing sex with love. Specially with a girl he could have had any time he went to the Dominican Republic. Are you really fucking telling me that his uncle never tricked him into going to a prostitute or strip club to get his nut off???? That is the Latin American male tradition! But don't get me wrong because I loved 99.9 percent of this book except for the end, and the catch up end where he explains that Oscar got laid so the reader won't be mad if the kid died without getting any action.


To me, the ending makes the character of Oscar Wao seem like person that went against the world and just gave up to die for a prostitute with a kid and a gangster boyfriend.

I want to read endings that tell me that no matter who you are, as long as you take risks no one else will take, you will be a winner, you will get that special girl that you really want, you will make that great work of art, you will be remembered, because you never gave up, even if you were a fat, nerdy kid from Paterson, New Jersey that wanted a Sports Illustrated model.

Let's face it, those are the people that become great, the ones that fight against all odds. The ones that go for the brass ring, despite everybody telling them is no possible. I never felt like Oscar was a fighter. Do you really expect me to believe that Oscar Wao never got any cooch at Rutgers? This is America, and that is an American University(or college) and any nerd can get draws in college. Community college is a different animal, but college, going out of town!?
Please!

What The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao tells me is that if you're a fat, nerdy kid you can forget about it, because you will die for some hoochie in a third world country trying to get punanni before you find someone that loves you for who you are....


But try telling that to Bill Gates, and Roman Polanski, and Malcolm X, and Bob Dylan, and Rivers Cuomo, and Henry Miller, and Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsburg, and Willam Burroughs, and Frank Zappa, and Conan O'brien, and The Revenge of the Nerds cast, and Raymond Carver, and Frank Miller, and Alan Moore, and Steve Ditko and every nerd that loves his life, and his journey to self.........try telling them that Junot Diaz.