Day One Hundred and Fifty-One

8/31

The Book: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

ISBN: 978-1-59448-329-5

Suggested By: Ed Vela

Where: Home

When: 7-8P

Music: None

Company: Alone, except for Church jumping on the edge of the couch

Pages: 68-123 (55)

The Lead In: Ok, this is turning into a generational tale, which is interesting because I just read 100 Year of Solitude (another generational tale, also by an “ethnic” writer). Not sure what I think about this book now.

The 411 on the 55: I realize that yesterday I used the phrase “sack of crap” twice and to describe two different people. I will attempt to be more eloquent and intelligent in my analysis.

Oscar Wao’s sister is stuck. Ran away from home, she finally breaks down and calls her brother, Oscar, to steal money from their mother and bring it to her. He does, but also brings along her mother. She fights with her mom, but gives in and heads back home. As a way to fix her issues, her mother (who I cannot point out enough, is a horrible horrible parent) ships her to live with her family in the D.R. And she does seem to sort her mind out, coming to grips with who she is.

And now a chapter on Oscar’s mother. She is a really dark girl (skin tone, I mean) and is mocked at the private school that she is sent to. Regardless of the mockery, she is extremely prideful and arrogant. She is very much in love with a boy, Pujols (not Albert, sadly) but he has no time for her. Then over one summer, she gets a big rack (36DDD). Suddenly, he can’t get enough of her. They are caught having sex in the closet of the school. He is sent to military school and she is kicked out. She becomes a waitress and seems to adjust better to life. One night, in a club, she meets Oscar’s dad, one of Trujillo’s cronies.

Line of the Day: “No amount of wishful thinking was changing the cold hard fact that she was a teenage girl live in the Dominican Republic of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina, the Dictatingest Dictator who ever Dictated.” pg 80

Fact on the Fiction: Trujillo’s cult of personality in the D.R. “Statues of "El Jefe" were mass produced and erected across the Republic, and bridges and public buildings were named in his honor. The nation's newspapers now had praise for Trujillo as part of the front page, and license plates included the slogan "Viva Trujillo!" An electric sign was erected in Ciudad Trujillo so that "Dios y Trujillo" could be seen at night as well as in the day. Eventually, even churches were required to post the slogan, "Dios en cielo, Trujillo en tierra" (God in Heaven, Trujillo on Earth).” Wikipedia