THE. BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO by Junot Diaz

Narrated by Jonathan Davis and Staci Snell

     Fanboy Lives Life On His Own Terms

This is a mainstream novel whose main character is a Science Fiction genre fanboy. There are regular references to Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and scattered other references to other SF standards. Clearly this is not a Science Fiction novel but anyone with a love for the genre will find much to relate to. The story is told in first person by another character in the book whose life is inextricably linked and, consequently, strongly impacted by Oscar. The title character is a nerdy, overweight geek from the Dominican Republic who does not fit in with the oversexed culture of his heritage. He spends his whole life searching for a meaningful relationship with a member of the opposite sex. In this, Oscar has a one-track-mind. This persistent focus on this subject is off-putting and detracts from what is otherwise a decent novel.

The main theme is parallel to the story "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" by Ernest Hemingway: A good hearted man struggles with either compromising his own identity to fit into the world in which he finds himself ~ or being true to himself and being ostracized from all he loves. The character Oscar is in most ways stereotypical of a Star Wars fanboy: he collects action figures; peppers his speech with quotes from obscure Science Fiction sources (most of which I recognized), and can't make it with a woman.

The narration is the best reason to tackle this book. Jonathan Davis handles the majority of the text, and Staci Snell takes on some of the sections that are presented from the perspective of female characters. Jonathan Davis has such a a large repertoire of character voices that he makes listening to this novel like hearing a movie soundtrack. His Dominican accents are, to my gringo ear, spot on and lend each different character a special place in the narrative.