The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz

Put your hand up if you know anything about the Dominican Republic. Or Santa Domingo. Or Trujillo. If you can't, then this is the book for you. You may ask why you would want to know anything about the DR (as opposed to the DRC, which no one should query wanting to know more about given the current 'activities' going on there), and the truth is, I can't really answer that. Even after reading this.

Junot Diaz won the Pulitzer for this effort, and while I admit to knowing little about the prize itself, I assume is a big deal, especially for someone not born in America. I can see why it won a big/good/esteemed prize though, as Diaz writes in a colloquial mix of historical novel come commentary on street gang life come hopeless love sick misfit come the realities of building a good life in a hard place. There's a little bit for everyone here, and whilst not the most page-turning book, it is a nice way to while away the time. 

The hardest bit is not deciding whether to read it or not, but whether to read the foot notes as they happen, or wait till you reach the end of the page, or the end of the two pages, or go back and re read the last sentence after reading the foot note so you actually get what's going on. And resisting the temptation to stop and google was hard too. 

For a debut novel, it is really gutsy. Or perhaps it's so gutsy because it's a debut novel???