The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

I really wish I had learned Spanish. I am not sure I would have understood all the Dominican slang in Junot Diaz's wonderful book The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, but at least I would have felt a little more on the inside. Apart from speaking Spanish, it will also help to know that the vast majority of the story is about Oscar's Mom, sister and the larger Dominican experience. The book is footnoted with hugely informational insights on Dominican history that can feel a lot like learning, but don't let that scare you off.

Oscar is an overweight young man who spends his time writing sci-fi and dreaming of the day he'll hook up with a girl. While he is prolific at the first endeavor, he is woefully lame at the second. He falls in love easily and with the wrong people and in the end this leads to his demise.

While this is a highly readable story and the historic footnotes are a great element, it is Diaz's narration style and tone that make this an excellent book. He writes in a modern hip hip style that moves at a fast clip and is rich in vernacular. Diaz also was the deserving recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2008.