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What Members Thought
I found myself completely immersed in this book, from its interesting characters (who doesn't love overweight science fiction geeks?) and setting to how it spans various generations of a Dominican family that might be cursed. The voice pulled me in, the use of Tolkien and Dune made me laugh, and the story made me stay. I hope to see more from Díaz in the future, and what a great first novel!
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This book just clicked for me. I listened in audio format and the narrator made the Spanglish slang sing. I liked the stream of consciousness and the character's weirdly funny, pathetic obsession with losing his virginity. Oscar did indeed live a wondrous life. This may not be a book for everybody, but it worked for me.
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I wanted to love this book, but it did not happen... I kept searching for the missing element that would have made me enjoy this book better, but came to the conclusion that it was the overly excess of practically everything that finally tired me of it. It was just too much: too much violence, too much stereotyping, too much Spanish, too much info in the footnotes....
It could be a case of the wrong book at the wrong time, as I am usually drawn to books with an experimental quality but, in any ca ...more
It could be a case of the wrong book at the wrong time, as I am usually drawn to books with an experimental quality but, in any ca ...more
Wow, what a ride. Lots of crazy historical fiction slash science fiction elements in this book, made you really think if there is such thing as a Fuku?? The only lame thing is too many Spanish words in this book - without a hint of translation!
I liked this book. I know there is some controversy that the language wasn't strong. I liked hearing another type of voice- one that I don't get to hear a lot of in the books that I read. I liked the dual settings of USA and the Dominican Republic. I related to a bit of that, having also lived in the 1st world and the 3rd. And I liked the characters. I liked hearing about their lives and their perspectives.
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This book was so compelling, I had to sleep in the same room with it until I finished it! Couldn't get enough of the imagery, the style of the writer and the intermingling of spanish and english throughout the book. I feel really sad now that its over but am so glad there are still books out there that reinforce the idea that reading can definitely be an emotional experience.
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Jul 02, 2008
Aodeh
marked it as to-read
Jan 01, 2009
Gaijinmama
marked it as to-read
Feb 20, 2009
Mary
marked it as to-read
May 16, 2010
Steve Kettmann
marked it as to-read
Aug 05, 2010
Katie
marked it as to-read
Jan 20, 2011
Teelei
marked it as to-read
Oct 11, 2011
Hege
marked it as to-read
Dec 27, 2011
Megan
marked it as to-read
Oct 16, 2012
toria (vikz writes)
marked it as to-read
