Stephanie Harrison
Reflection on The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
I very much enjoyed the first readings assigned for this book so far. I especially enjoy the culture and Spanish that is used in the book because I can understand it and it is nice to relate to some of the words and ideas of the Hispanic heritage. The book is very fun to read and one of the things I like most about it is the fact that you forget Oscar is not a real person. Although this piece is fiction, it is so well thought out, so detailed, and uses so many real life places and references so that it feels like nonfiction. Oscar is a likeable character and as the reader I feel bad for him when he is unlucky in love. At first the long footnotes threw me off, I did not feel like reading them and normally I would have skipped over them to be honest, but then I realized these footnotes were more interesting than most. The footnotes in the book are actually very helpful in helping the reader understand some of the cultural things that may remain unknown if the author assumed we knew what he was talking about or if he relied on the reader to look them up. The reader is also exposed not only to a cultural world that I’m sure most are unfamiliar with but also a world of science fiction and nerdy-ness for lack of a better word. The first 30 pages of the book are also interesting because they are told by the narrator, Oscars friend, and he is very manly, and speaks almost aggressively. This speaking style is different than how you would imagine Oscar talking. The excessive cursing and vulgar language work for the narrator, it makes the book quirky and interesting to read in this section.