Day One Hundred and Fifty-Three

9/2

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: 9A

Music: Shuffle

Company: Alone

Pages: 180-235 (55)

The Lead In: I wonder if there is a disconnect between myself and the text due to cultural and racial issues. It’s not that I don’t like the book, I’m just not sure its that great.

The 411 on the 55: Junior’s story continues. Oscar gets the hots for a hot gothic chick, who eventually breaks his heart by nailing some skinny punk guy. Oscar is downcast and unhappy. After Junior decides to move out of the room they share, Oscar commits suicide. Well, attempts to. He lands in a bush and saves his life. After recovering his health and moving back to school, Junior moves back in with him.

The next section focuses on the roots of Oscar and Lola’s family in the D.R. Abelard, the grandfather of Oscar, is a doctor living under Trujillo. He has a beautiful daughter, Jacquelyn (that would make her Oscar and Lola’s aunt?), and is determined to keep her out of Trujillo’s bed. Apparently at this time, Trujillo nailed every hot chick in the D.R. It works for a while, but eventually he is arrested.

Line of the Day: “But you know exactly what kind of world we live in. It ain’t no fucking Middle-earth.” pg 194

Fact on the Fiction: While nationalist Hispanic imagery has had a constraining effect on how Dominicans view the Taíno past, there are also unofficial alternate expressions that resist the dominant discourses. For example, many Dominicans claim that it is bad luck (fuku) to say the name Christopher Columbus aloud and that La Isabella, one of the first Spanish settlements on the north coast of the island, is haunted by Spanish ghosts. These may be considered signs of struggle against dominant history and rejections of official ways of speaking about the legitimated glory of the Spanish past. KACIKE

Day One Hundred and Fifty-Two

9/1

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: 8:30-9P

Music: None

Company: The Family

Pages: 124-179 (55)

The Lead In: Reading is never easy, especially when Church decides it is time to jump against my elbow every third sentence. Doesn’t she understand the importance of this task? 55pages a day, damnit!

The 411 on the 55: Ok, not Oscar’s dad. Beli (Oscar’s mom) fell for one of Trujillo’s gangsters. She gets pregnant and is convinced he will marry her. Sadly there is a fly in the ointment, he is already married...to Trujillo’s sister. This does not end well. Beli is beaten so badly by Tujillo’s thugs that she ends up losing the baby and almost her life. But she lives on, and is sent to New York to start over again.

A new chapter, Junior, a friend of Lola’s (Oscar’s sister). He falls for her in college but she is already with someone. So to show his commitment to her, when she leaves for Spain, he volunteers to move into Oscar’s dorm room to keep him company. Once there, he decides to “fix” Oscar’s life by making him jog and work out. This goes well for a short time until Oscar decides he has had enough and tells Junior to back off. Their relationship turns icy and Oscar goes back to being a lazy, anime-watching dork.

Line of the Day: “It was night and the lights of Nueva York were everywhere.” pg 165

Fact on the Fiction: The median age of the Dominican Republic is 24, compared to the U.S. at 36. On a side note, if you have the time, go to the CIA Worldfact book site. Amazing site full of a huge amount of information on every country of the world. CIA

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

Day One Hundred and Fifty

8/30

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: 5-6P

Music: None

Company: The Family

Pages: 12-67 (55)

The Lead In: Excited about this book. Ed recommended it with glee. If you know Ed, you know the glee I am talking about.

The 411 on the 55: Oscar Wao is a fat sack of crap. He loves comic books, fantasy novels, D&D, stereotypical nerd. Can’t get with a chick, and when he thinks he is a bout to, he finds out she is back with her old boyfriend who has a large member, so to speak. Oscar is incredibly unhappy with his life. His mother is bossy and doesn’t understand him not being like every other guy. His sister is punky and off to college. At the end of today’s reading, Oscar is off to college where again, he doesn’t fit in.

The second “chapter” of today’s reading tells the story of Oscar’s sister. Her struggles with her mother’s dominating personality lead her to run off and live with a boyfriend. Once there, she realizes he is a sack of crap and is unhappy with her situation as well.

Line of the Day: “Jesus Christ, he whispered. I’m a Morlock.” pg 30

Fact on the Fiction: This book won a Pulitzer. Wikipedia

Day One Hundred and Forty-Nine

8/29

The Book: Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

ISBN: 0-812-55070-6

Suggested By: Audrey Scott

Where: Home

When: 6-630P

Music: None

Company: Alone

Pages: 278-324 (55)

The Lead In: I was poisoned. After finding out some of the less appealing aspects of the author, I didn’t enjoy the book as much. I have to say, the ending was weird....Well, more on that next.

The 411 on the 55: On the asteroid training base, Ender has to play complicated games fighting against his trainer, a veteran of the original bugger wars. With his crew of friends, Ender wins each battle, but is losing his health as the wars continue. Losing sleep, blacking out, losing the desire to eat, finally he is brought in for the last battle. And, oh, you guess it? He wins.

And guess what? It was actually real battles he was fighting, he was commanding ships already at the bugger universe. They are all wiped out, hooray, Ender is the best.

The resolution? Ender’s brother is now running the show on Earth, using his persona, Locke, that he created in writing on the Nets. Valentine bails on him and joins Ender at the asteroid. Because all the buggers are dead, their worlds are available for colonization and humans are rolling out, including Valentine, who talks Ender into it, as well.

Once on the bugger world, Ender is traveling around, discovers a building built out of his memories, by the buggers. There he is greeted with a large bunch of memories not his own. Flooded with memories of the buggers, and given a pupa to protect (to eventually release on a future bugger world), he writes a book about the bugger race. It becomes a religion and influences people all across the universe, the end.

The 20/20: So the book was marginal at best. I didn’t enjoy the ending, I felt that it was a bit underwhelming. It should have ended with Ender killing the buggers. Instead it dragged on for 30 pages of heart-tugging (or at least attempted heart-tugging) about buggers. I would have like the book better had it ended with Ender losing and the buggers ruling Earth. Now that would be a twist!

Line of the Day: “And always Ender carried with hi a dry white cocoon, looking for the world where the hive-queen could awaken and thrive in peace.” pg 324 Cheese.

Fact on the Fiction: You know, you read something like, “Ender’s Game is in the top 100 novels of all-time” and you think “Really?” After going to the link you find it was all voted on by “regular” people rather than experts and Ayn Rand and L Ron Hubbard take up has 7 of the top 10 ten spots. Spare me. Do check out the Board’s list, though. MLA

Day One Hundred and Forty-Eight

8/28

The Book: Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

ISBN: 0-812-55070-6

Suggested By: Audrey Scott

Where: Home

When: 10-10:30P

Music: None

Company: The Family

Pages: 222-277 (55)

The Lead In: Discovering Card’s faith makes me curious as to what influence it has had on his writing. Check out the Fact on the Fiction for today, excellent quote and link to a great interview.

The 411 on the 55: After the fight, Bonzo is shipped out of school and so is Ender. Ender is returned to Earth with Graff (the commander of the training school). Bonzo, by the way, is dead.

On Earth, Ender curls in on himself, unconcerned with the “game”, unconcerned with life altogether. To fix things, the I.F. brings in Valentine. They have an incredibly long conversation on a raft (which, in my mind, was a tad incestuous, though I bet the people that love this book will be angry for that comment). At the end of the conversation, Ender has had enough, count him in to fight the buggers.

Off to an asteroid he is shipped to be trained by the best. But he needs a crew. Who do they send him, but the kids he has been training with, including his boy, Bean. How sweet.

Line of the Day: “In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him.” pg 238 Hahahahahaha. Shoot me.

Fact on the Fiction: To quote Mr. Card: "I find the comparison between civil rights based on race and supposed new rights being granted for what amounts to deviant behavior to be really kind of ridiculous. There is no comparison. A black as a person does not by being black harm anyone. Gay rights is a collective delusion that's being attempted. And the idea of 'gay marriage' -- it's hard to find a ridiculous enough comparison. By the way, I'd really hate it if your piece wound up focusing on the old charge that I'm a homophobe." Salon.com

Day One Hundred and Forty-Seven

8/27

The Book: Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

ISBN: 0-812-55070-6

Suggested By: Audrey Scott

Where: Home

When: 9-9:45P

Music: None

Company: The Family

Pages: 168-221 (55)

The Lead In: I feel that too much is happening in this book. Like the book should be much longer to encompass all the time and events that are unfolding in the book.

The 411 on the 55: So as you might have guessed already, Ender is the most badass commander of all time, he takes his band of nobodies and defeats each team, systematically. The director of the training school begins upping the ante, scheduling matches the next day (typically they were given a week to practice), 7 days in a row, eventually making Ender’s group fight 2 teams at once, in the dark, without prior notice, etc, etc, etc. And yet Ender continues to win. So pissed off are the other boy commanders that they decide to beat Ender.

Well, Bonzo, Ender’s first commander when arriving at the training school, is the leader of the pack of boys who are going to beat him up. And rather than beat him up, he wants to kill him. Right. I felt like that was a stretch. Bonzo is all about pride but, in the end, he is still a 13 year old. They kicked Ender’s brother out of school because he was malicious and mean, wouldn’t they have done the same thing to Bonzo?

Again, predictably, Ender is against long odds, and still wins. He beats the living crap out of Bonzo, including kicking him in the testicles (while they are both naked in a shower)...um, ok.

Line of the Day: “After that, if he had asked them to follow him to the moon without space suits, they would have done it.” pg 186 (ok, maybe worst line of the day. I thought i was incredibly cheesy and badly written)

Fact on the Fiction: (I smell a Mormon) “Orson Scott Card is an award winning science fiction author who grew up in Utah and attended Brigham Young University. There he studied drama, which contributed to his writing of plays. Card had his own theatre company, which was a success for a number of years. He learnt to speak Portuguese as a result of his missionary years in Brazil.” Ender.com