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What Members Thought
I don't even know how to describe what I loved about this book. And i am really bad at writing good reviews, but here goes....
It was funny and completely tragic at the same time. Even though I sometimes did not understand what the characters were saying since they were using Dominican slang and Spanish often, it did not detract from the story and only served to enhance the brutal realness of the characters.
At the end of the day, its hard to even say what the book was about. To say it was about ...more
It was funny and completely tragic at the same time. Even though I sometimes did not understand what the characters were saying since they were using Dominican slang and Spanish often, it did not detract from the story and only served to enhance the brutal realness of the characters.
At the end of the day, its hard to even say what the book was about. To say it was about ...more
This book was interesting. The first thing that sticks out is that there is a lot Spanish in it. It slowed my reading down a bit and I speak a fair amount of Spanish. I read that the author wants to give the reader an immigrant's experience, which makes sense.
This book is beautifully written, despite the 'vulgar' language. The choice of the narrator to they way the story switched from person to person helped me to look at the story from different angles. Just when I felt I formed my opinion abou ...more
This book is beautifully written, despite the 'vulgar' language. The choice of the narrator to they way the story switched from person to person helped me to look at the story from different angles. Just when I felt I formed my opinion abou ...more
Summer 2016 Bingo - with footnotes. I had high expectations for this book and it almost lived up to them. I'm very glad I listened - the narrator wove in the footnotes and a lot of Spanish I'd never know how to pronounce seamlessly (I think I might've given up if I'd been reading - I have the book in paperback and it's ... dense).
I really enjoyed all the backstory of Oscar's family and the history of the Dominican Republic that framed it. So - I'm really glad I read/listened to it and I'd certai ...more
I really enjoyed all the backstory of Oscar's family and the history of the Dominican Republic that framed it. So - I'm really glad I read/listened to it and I'd certai ...more
I think the experience of reading this book is similar to the experience people had when they saw Slumdog Millionaire. Based on the book jacket blurbs I expected this book to be funny, fresh, and a good read, and it was all of those things....but i was unprepared for the violence and really depressing story line. I think had I known that going in I would've enjoyed it more. Once I accepted that it wasn't going to be a light read, I did like it.
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Sep 10, 2008
Julia
marked it as tossed
Tried listening to this one, but didn't make it through. I found the historical context really interesting, but I had a really hard time with the lack of setting. It drives me crazy when authors don't establish the setting well enough for me to picture it. I like to be able to see (hopefully even smell!) the story in my head, and it just wasn't happening with this one. Maybe the setting comes across better when you actually read it, I don't know.
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I liked that he didn't give the reader context for all the Spanish; I liked the extra responsibility put on the reader. The mythic allusions and intertwining of Dominican history and pop culture created a really unique voice. However, for some reason I never really cared about the characters, perhaps because of the voice; something about it put me off.
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Re-reading this one for book group. Forgot how engrossing it is!
May 24, 2009
Anna
marked it as to-read
Oct 20, 2011
Jessica
added it
Aug 30, 2012
Camille
marked it as to-read
Jun 29, 2016
Cari
marked it as to-read
Jan 12, 2017
Tiffany
added it
Mar 11, 2017
Adjrun
marked it as to-read
Mar 30, 2017
Sabrina Smallwood
marked it as to-read
Oct 08, 2017
Sarah left GR
marked it as to-read
Jan 27, 2019
Erika
marked it as to-read
