Friday, October 29, 2010

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao



I liked this book better the first time, when it was called A Confederacy of Dunces and wasn't half in Spanish.  For example, here is advice about how to get over an ex-boyfriend, given to Oscar's mother by her friend/coworker: "Forget that hijo de la porra, that comohuevo.  Every desgraciado who walks in here is in love with you.  You could have the whole maltido world if you wanted."  I can understand the basics from context in this example, but in some places there are entire paragraphs in Spanish that I had no clue about...I just felt like I was missing a whole lot because I didn't want to stop and google every 7th word.  Does desgraciado just mean man or gentleman or something more specific?  Any other non-Spanish speakers read this book, and how did you deal with the language problem?

But that being said, this book did make me laugh a lot and was very interesting.  I also learned a lot about the political history of the Dominican Republic.  The footnotes were very long and were in very small font, but they were some of my favorite parts, I kind of wish there had been a lot more of them.  I also loved all the Tolkein references, because I've read LOTR and seen the films multiple times, so I felt like I was actually in on those inside jokes.

One major theme of his book is fuku or the idea that a curse can follow a family through generations.  So that made me think about whether or not I am superstitious.  When I was a kid, I used to have this thing where I would have to open and close the laundry hamper three times before the tiolet stopped flushing everytime I used the bathroom, but I don't remember what I thought was going to happen if I didn't do that, so maybe that's more OCD and not superstition.  There's a black cat that likes to hang out under our black car and runs across the driveway whenever we turn in, so Aaron and I are in trouble if that's a bad omen.  I think that to a certain extent our lives are subject to fate.  Everything that happens is leading you to where you're meant to be, whether it's a decision you make or one that gets made for you.  And it's certainly true that your parents' mistakes can stick with you and have irrevocable consequences, although I think that's environmental and not because there's a fuku hanging over your head.  So go walk under a ladder or break a mirror and enjoy the ride because life is short and you are not in control.  And take a few semesters of Spanish if you want to try and read this book.

Up next: The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

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