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    Cover of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

    The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

    Junot Díaz · 2007

    Things have never been easy for Oscar. A ghetto nerd living with his Dominican family in New Jersey, he's sweet but disastrously overweight. He dreams of becoming the next J. R. R. Tolkien and he keeps falling hopelessly in love. Poor Oscar may never get what he wants, thanks to the Fuku - the curse that has haunted his family for generations. With dazzling energy and insight Díaz immerses us in the tumultuous lives of Oscar, his runaway sister Lola, their beautiful mother Belicia, and in the family's uproarious journey from the Dominican Republic to the US and back. Rendered with uncommon warmth and humour, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a literary triumph, that confirms Junot Díaz as one of the most exciting writers of our time.

    Fiction & Literature
    Open LibraryAmazon
    Stats for nerds
    7recommend
    9mentions
    8people
    2010–2025years
    89% recommend11% neutral

    Mentions per year

    201020122014201620182020202220242025

    What Hacker News says

    1. vhpoetAug 2020
      Here's the list

      How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

      1984 by George Orwell

      The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fck by Mark Manson

      The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

      The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

      To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

      Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki

      No More Mr Nice Guy by Robert A. Glover

      The Road by Cormac McCarthy

      Lord of the Flies by William Golding

      Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

      The Way of the Superior Man by David Deida

      The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

      Dressing the Man by Alan Flusser

      The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

      The Art Of War by Sun Tzu

      Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

      Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

      Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes

      Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

      The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

      East of Eden by John Steinbeck

      The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman

      Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

      I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

      Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins

      Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

      One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

      The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

      Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

      Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

      One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

      Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

      You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero

      The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

      The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli

      Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

      Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins

      Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

      Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose

      The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco

      Mastery by Robert Greene

      Models by Mark Manson

      The Godfather by Mario Puzo

      Tools of Titans by Timothy Ferriss

      Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

      The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

      The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

      Kingdom Man by Tony Evans

      The 50th Law by Robert Greene

      The Mask of Masculinity by Lewis Howes

      100 Deadly Skills by Clint Emerson

      The Giver by Lois Lowry

      Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse

      Quiet by Susan Cain

      Mate by Tucker Max

      Icons of Men's Style by Josh Sims

      Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

      Make Your Bed by Admiral William H. McRaven

      The Man in the Mirror by Patrick Morley

      For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

      The Stranger by Albert Camus

      A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

      Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

      The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

      Wild at Heart Revised and Updated by John Eldredge

      A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

      Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

      Unfu

      k Yourself by Gary John Bishop

      The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

      Iron John by Robert Bly

      The Call of the Wild and White Fang by Jack London

      Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

      Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari

      White Teeth by Zadie Smith

      Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

      Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus by John Gray

      Moby Dick by Herman Melville

      thread
    2. mbaumanAug 2016
      The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Díaz (fiction) - At face value, a story about a nerdy outcast in love, which means most people I know will relate to it. Pulitzer Prize winner.

      The Elements of Typographic Style by Bringhurst (design) - Most designers I know already own a copy, but interesting for laymen.

      The Little Schemer by Friedman & Felleisen (programming) - Fun and educational for anyone interested in programming, at just about any level.

      thread
    3. gPphXJan 2016
      by author:

      Beano (comic, ’50s)

      Private Eye (satirical magazine, ’60s – ’80s)

      Raw (comic, ’80s)

      Viz (comic, early ’80s)

      Paris Review, The - Writers At Work: The Paris Review Interviews edited by Malcolm Cowley

      Ackroyd, Peter - Hawksmoor

      Alighieri, Dante - Inferno

      Amis, Martin - Money

      Baldwin, James - Fire Next Time, The

      Barnes, Julian - Flaubert’s Parrot

      Bellow, Saul - Herzog

      Braine, John - Room At The Top

      Broyard, Anatole - Kafka Was The Rage

      Bulgakov, Mikhail - Master And Margarita, The

      Bulwer-Lytton, Edward - Zanoni

      Burgess, Anthony - A Clockwork Orange

      Burgess, Anthony - Earthly Powers

      Cage, John - Silence: Lectures And Writing

      Camus, Albert - Stranger, The

      Capote, Truman - In Cold Blood

      Carter, Angela - Nights At The Circus

      Chabon, Michael - Wonder Boys

      Chatwin, Bruce - Songlines, The

      Cohn, Nik - Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The Golden Age of Rock

      Cork, Richard - David Bomberg

      Crane, Hart - Bridge, The

      Danto, Arthur C. - Beyond The Brillo Box

      DeLillo, Don - White Noise

      Diaz, Junot - Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao, The

      Döblin, Alfred - Berlin Alexanderplatz

      Dos Passos, John - 42nd Parallel, The

      Edwards, Frank - Strange People

      Elliot, T.S. - Waste Land, The

      Faulkner, William - As I Lay Dying

      Figes, Orlando - A People’s Tragedy

      Fitzgerald, F. Scott - Great Gatsby, The

      Flaubert, Gustave - Madame Bovary

      Friedrich, Otto - Before The Deluge

      Gillete, Charlie - Sound Of The City: The Rise Of Rock And Roll, The

      Ginzburg, Eugenia - Journey Into The Whirlwind

      Guralnick, Peter - Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm And Blues And The Southern Dream Of Freedom

      Hall, James A. - Halls Dictionary Of Subjects And Symbols In Art

      Harding, Douglass - On Having No Head

      Hirshey, Gerri - Nowhere To Run The Story Of Soul Music

      Hitchens, Christopher - Trial Of Henry Kissinger, The

      Homer - Iliad

      Isherwood, Christopher - Mr. Norris Changes Trains

      Jacoby, Susan - Age Of American Unreason, The

      Jaynes, Julian - Origin Of Consciousness In The Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind, The

      Kerouac, Jack - On The Road

      Kidd, David - All The Emperor’s Horses

      Koestler, Arthur - Darkness At Noon

      Laing, R. D. - Divided Self, The

      Di Lampedusa, Giusseppe - Leopard, The

      Larson, Nella - Passing

      Lautréamont, Comte de - Maldodor

      Lawrence, D.H. - Lady Chatterly’s Lover

      Lebowitz, Fran - Metropolitan Life

      Lévi, Eliphas - Transcendental Magic, Its Doctine and Ritual

      Lewis, Wyndham - Blast

      Marcus, Greil - Mystery Train

      McEwan, Ian - In Between The Sheets

      Milligan, Spike - Puckoon

      Mishima, Yukio - Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea, The

      Mitford, Jessica - American Way Of Death, The

      Nabokov, Vladimir - Lolita

      Norman, Howard - Bird Artist, The

      Norris, Frank - McTeague

      O’Hara, Frank - Selected Poems

      Orwell, George - 1984

      Orwell, George - Inside The Whale And Other Essays

      Packard, Vance - Hidden Persuaders, The

      Pagels, Elaine - Gnostic Gospels, The

      Paglia, Camille - Sexual Personae: Art And Decadence From Nefertiti To Emily Dickinson

      Petry, Ann - Street, The

      di Pirajno, Alberto Denti - A Grave For A Dolphin

      Priestley, J.B. - English Journey

      Rechy, John - City Of Night

      Sadecky, Peter - Octobriana And The Russian Underground

      Saunders, Ed - Tales Of Beatnik Glory

      Savage, Jon - Teenage

      Selby, Hubert Jr. - Last Exit To Brooklyn

      Spark, Muriel - Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie, The

      Steiner, George - In Bluebeard’s Castle

      Stoppard, Tom - Coast Of Utopia, The

      Sylvester, David - Interviews With Francis Bacon

      Thomson, Rupert - Insult, The

      Thurman, Wallace - Infants Of The Spring

      Toole, John Kennedy - A Confederacy Of Dunces

      Waterhouse, Keith - Billy Liar

      Waters, Sarah - Fingersmith

      Waugh, Evelyn - Vile Bodies

      Weschler, Lawrence - Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonders

      West, Nathanael - Day Of The Locust, The

      White, Charles - Life And Times Of Little Richard, The

      Wilson, Colin - Outsider, The

      Wolf, Christa - Quest For Christa T, The

      Wright, Richard - Black Boy

      Yokoo, Tadanori - Tadanori Yokoo

      Zinn, Howard - A People’s History Of The United States

      thread
    4. darrelldSep 2015
      The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

      Excellent storytelling, humour and slice of life human drama. It's just amazing how Junot Diaz tells of the tragedy of one family and the fukú curse that haunts them over generations.

      http://www.amazon.com/The-Brief-Wondrous-Life-Oscar/dp/15944...

      thread
    5. sailormoon222Nov 2013
      Rap Genius (YC S11) - Brooklyn, NY - http://rapgenius.com - Help us build the Wall of History jobs@rapgenius.com

      IF YOU PASS OUR TECHNICAL INTERVIEW AND RECEIVE A JOB OFFER FROM US, WE'LL GIVE YOU $1,000 CASH (even if you don't take the job!) http://news.rapgenius.com/Lemon-introducing-the-rap-genius-g....

      We're one of the fastest-growing sites on the internet, we get 25MM unique visitors per month, we've raised $15m from Andreesen Horowitz, and yet our tech team is only seven people. Anyone who joins us is going to have the best of both worlds, you'll work on a product that millions love and use while getting the experience of being a part of a small team and helping define the culture.

      WHO WE ARE

      We're a tiny, quick-shipping team. Each of us makes product decisions and owns whole features. We're close and we all enjoy spending time together. We’re a small team because we’re picky about who joins us. We have one of the hardest technical interviews in NYC but if you make it, you’re going to be on the best team around. Our house library includes Metaprogramming in Ruby; Godel, Escher, Bach, an Eternal Golden Braid; POODR; and "Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?". Loving rap is not a prerequisite for working here, though an appreciation osmoses to everyone after a while.

      WHAT WE'RE BUILDING

      We started Rap Genius in 2009 to explain the meaning of rap lyrics, but the big vision goes beyond music and touches all of text – whether it's the Bill of Rights (http://news.rapgenius.com/United-states-congress-the-us-cons...), the Bible (http://news.rapgenius.com/God-10-commandments-lyrics), “The Waste Land” (http://poetry.rapgenius.com/Ts-eliot-the-waste-land-lyrics), or the Supreme Court’s DOMA ruling (http://news.rapgenius.com/The-supreme-court-of-the-united-st...), it's all on Rap Genius (or Poetry Genius, or News Genius, or... you get the idea). One of our favorite recent examples is Junot Diaz's amazing annotations on an excerpt from his own The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (http://poetry.rapgenius.com/Junot-diaz-the-brief-wondrous-li...).

      BENEFITS

      * Bomb salary and equity—you won't be taking a pay cut to work here

      * We don't count vacation days

      * Free meals in the office, free unlimited Seamless, free unlimited Fresh Direct

      * Free gym in the building

      * We pay your phone bill and when you join we'll upgrade you to the newest iPhone

      * Laundry and shower in the office * Free indoor bike parking

      * Free health, dental, and vision benefits

      * The deluxe computer setup of your choice

      WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

      * Experienced full-stack Rails engineers

      * Front-end developers with an eye for design

      * iOS devs to help build our upcoming iPhone app

      INTERESTED?

      Hit us up at jobs@rapgenius.com with:

      * Your name and GitHub profile, your Twitter, blog, StackOverflow account, personal website, etc.

      * A cool side project you built, library you've released, or some code that's impressive

      * Something brief about what you like and dislike about the technologies you've used

      * Your résumé

      * Apply if you live in NYC or are willing to relocate. Our office is in Williamsburg, and it's awesome.

      thread
    6. sailormoon222Oct 2013
      Rap Genius (YC S11) - Brooklyn, NY - http://rapgenius.com - Help us build the Internet Talmud

      jobs@rapgenius.com

      We're one of the fastest-growing sites on the internet, we get 25MM unique visitors per month, we've raised $15m from Andreesen Horowitz, and yet our tech team is only six people.

      Anyone who joins us is going to have the best of both worlds, you'll work on a product that millions love and use while getting the experience of being a part of a small team and helping define the culture.

      WHO WE ARE

      We're a tiny, quick-shipping team. Each of us makes product decisions and owns whole features. We're close and we all enjoy spending time together. We’re a small team because we’re picky about who joins us. We have one of the hardest technical interviews in NYC but if you make it, you’re going to be on the best team around.

      Our house library includes Metaprogramming in Ruby; Godel, Escher, Bach, an Eternal Golden Braid; POODR; and "Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?". Loving rap is not a prerequisite for working here, though an appreciation osmoses to everyone after a while.

      WHAT WE'RE BUILDING

      We started Rap Genius in 2009 to explain the meaning of rap lyrics, but the big vision goes beyond music and touches all of text – whether it's the Bill of Rights (http://news.rapgenius.com/United-states-congress-the-us-cons...), the Bible (http://news.rapgenius.com/God-10-commandments-lyrics), “The Waste Land” (http://poetry.rapgenius.com/Ts-eliot-the-waste-land-lyrics), or the Supreme Court’s DOMA ruling (http://news.rapgenius.com/The-supreme-court-of-the-united-st...), it's all on Rap Genius (or Poetry Genius, or News Genius, or... you get the idea). One of our favorite recent examples is Junot Diaz's amazing annotations on an excerpt from his own The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (http://poetry.rapgenius.com/Junot-diaz-the-brief-wondrous-li...).

      BENEFITS

          * Bomb salary and equity—you won't be taking a pay cut to work here
          * We don't count vacation days
          * Free meals in the office, free unlimited Seamless, free unlimited Fresh Direct
          * Free gym in the building
          * We pay your phone bill and when you join we'll upgrade you to the newest iPhone
          * Laundry and shower in the office
          * Free indoor bike parking
          * Free health, dental, and vision benefits
          * The deluxe computer setup of your choice
      
      WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

          * Experienced full-stack Rails engineers
          * Front-end developers with an eye for design
          * iOS devs to help build our upcoming iPhone app
      
      INTERESTED? Hit us up at jobs@rapgenius.com with:

          * Your name and GitHub profile, your Twitter, blog, StackOverflow account, 
            personal website, etc. 
          * A cool side project you built, library you've released, or some code that's 
            impressive
          * Something brief about what you like and dislike about the technologies you've used
          * Your résumé
          * Apply if you live in NYC or are willing to relocate. Our office is in 
            Williamsburg, and it's awesome.
      thread

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