Recommendations from our site
“The places he describes in his fiction are places where I grew up. In the Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, there’s a scene where Oscar Wao tries to kill himself by jumping off a rail bridge across the Raritan river. That bridge is just down the street from my house. To this day, I can’t take a train across it without thinking of that incident. As far as I’m concerned, it happened. Oscar Wao is very real to me. When I read Wao, I think, there but for the grace of God go I.” Read more...
“This is a hugely original work of fiction; personal and yet panoramic in its view. It is a retelling of the history of the Dominican Republic and of the meaning of being a migrant, while at the same time being a personal story of the lives of Latinos in the United States. This resonates with one of the main themes that I am interested in, which is the idea that the United States is slowly but surely becoming the next Latin American country. The novel tells the story of a character named Oscar, a Latino living in a Jersey ghetto who dreams of becoming the next JRR Tolkien. But thanks to Fuku, the ancient curse that fell upon the Americas the day Christopher Columbus cracked open a nightmare door in the Caribbean, he may never get what he wants.” Read more...
The best books on The Rise of Latin America
Oscar Guardiola-Rivera, Lawyer
The audiobook version of The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is narrated by the legendary Lin-Manuel Miranda and Karen Olivo, who also won a Tony for her role in West Side Story.
Narrator: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Karen Olivo
Length: 9 hours and 54 minutes
