I just finished Junot Diaz's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao for book four of the the year. It's part sci-fi-comic-nerd, part Gabriel Garcia Marquez mystical realism, part Bildungsroman, all viewed from the point of view of a Dominican living in Jersey. Much narrator's dialogue will soon come across as dated (it's already distant for me) but he's learned and sincere and pulls you in to the story. Footnotes abound in the historical chapters and give you a sense for what kind of the place the DR was (how long ago, I'm not sure; I plead utter ignorance beyond what I have read in the last few days).
Diaz will be in Seattle a month from today for a lecture through Seattle Arts and Lectures. Maybe if I can scrape a few dollars together I'll be in attendance.
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That man came to Santa Fe on the night of my first class. I heard him do a reading on NPR with all his comments before and questions after, and he's cool.
I believe that. I think I got myself a volunteer gig working in the box office before his lecture, so I'll be seeing him talk for free!
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