Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

4 reviews

lucinotlucy's review

dark emotional lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Suicide attempt, Violence, Police brutality, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Medical content, Cancer, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Rape, Stalking, Terminal illness, Excrement, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Torture, and Abortion

akswhy's review against another edition

funny informative mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Come for the nerdy references, stay for the exploration of the multi-generational damage a dictatorship can do. Bit if a slow start, but this thing gives you SO MUCH to chew on!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Murder, Sexual assault, and Child abuse

Moderate: Rape and Suicide

jessgreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

Rating: ⭐⭐✨⬜⬜⬜

Title: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Author: Junot Diaz

Genre: Fiction

Setting: New Jersey, USA & The Dominican Republic

Month Read: March 2022

Book Type: Paperback

Publication: 2008

Publisher: Riverhead Trade

Pages: 340

*PBS Great American Read Book

TRIGGER WARNING- 

Murder / Forced Abortion / Abuse / Graphic Violence / Sex / Alcohol / Suicide Attempt / Language / Racism / Classism / (there are more, these are the big ones I remember)

"...and when he thought about the way she laughed, as though she owned the air around her, his heart thundered inside his chest, a lonely rada."

No Spoiler Summary:

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is about Oscar, a Dominican-American nerd who lives in New Jersey. He's overweight, loves J.R.R. Tolkein, is bad with the ladies, and watches tons of anime and manga. He wants to find love more than anything else, but because he believes his family is cursed, he is unlucky. You follow Oscar's family through a few generations as you follow the curse through their familial line as you travel from Santo Domingo to Jersey.

Review:

I'm not sure what I was expecting in this book, but whatever it was was not what I thought it would be. I think the writing was really beautiful in spaces, and the story, while sort of confusing to me, was really interesting. I didn't love this book, but I think, like with Harlem Shuffle this book was certainly not written for me in mind. I did google a LOT of Spanish during this book, so that was cool. I did love how Junot Diaz didn't simplify the Spanish very often, you almost never got an explanation as to what the Spanish meant, and I really enjoyed that because it forced me to do the work to figure it out.

I think I would have liked this book if I didn't recently read The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois, as well. The books were pretty similar in theme (a generational family epic following many, many generations of people), and personally I think Love Songs did it a lot better? Or maybe it was just more engaging. I definitely recommend giving this a shot and seeing if you like it. Let me know if you've read this and what you think! I'm open to discussing this!

"She was the kind of girlfriend God gives you young, so you'll know loss the rest of your life."


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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Abortion, Genocide, Blood, Child death, Cursing, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, and War

Moderate: Bullying, Body shaming, Excrement, Confinement, Drug use, Abandonment, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Gore, and Gun violence

greatsilverini's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Murder, Child death, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Rape, Abandonment, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide