Blogging world, let me introduce you to-------JUNOT DIAZ!
I just finished this man's first novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and I have to say that I haven't been this excited about a relatively new, modern author in a long time.
Born in the Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo), Diaz and his family emigrated to New Jersey in December 1974. After high school he attened Rutgers University (the Little family has about a twenty mile legacy, thank you very much). Half of my family was born and raised in New Jersey and most, all but my immediate family, still lives there. So, needless to say, I was thrilled when I realized that this novel took place largely in New Jersey.
Now we should go ahead and talk about what an absolute knock-out this book is. Aside from this gem, Diaz's only other work includes a short story collection called Drown. It is truly remarkable that a book of this caliber came from a rookie author, not to mention it won the Pulitzer Prize in 2008!
This novel documents the lives of the members of the Cabral and De Leon family. The same family, essentially, though the last name changed through the lineage. Oscar De Leon is a horrifically overweight teenager at the beginning of the story who lives in the ghetto of New Jersey with his spunky sister Lola and his overbearing, ungrateful mother Belicia. The name Cabral became De Leon when Belicia married her husband who soon left her after she had her first child (Lola).
The De Leons come from an impressive line-up of Dominican big wigs, however. Channeling Diaz's roots in Santo Domingo, much of the book takes place in the Dominican Republic in the form of flash backs to the family's glory days decades back. Diaz changes the story's point of view often providing fresh and honest prose about the "Cabral curse" that everyone, even in the present day, believes to be at work in the De Leon household.
Though the story is named after our resident ghetto-nerd, Oscar, Diaz divides the time among Lola, her juvenile delinquent boyfriend-turned-best-friend, Junior, Belicia, and Belicia's mother. It might seem challenging at first, but Diaz presents his layered story with a crisp attitude that is truly New Jersey-an, keeping the ball rolling and the pages moving.
All language aside, this story is a heart-wrenching one and is deserving of all praise (Northerners and Southerners alike!).
For those that enjoy: Modern fiction. The stuff of Dave Eggers and Zadie Smith
MORE FUN FACTS ABOUT JUNOT! I cannot get enough..
-He works as a creative writing professor at MIT
-As an adolescent, he had a thing for apocalyptic films and books like Planet of the Apes
-His short story collection, Drown, focuses on Diaz's impoverished youth without a father and the struggle of adjusting to American life in New Jersey
RUN. GO READ. BE MERRY.
My next victim is..
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