Review: "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" - Wondrous indeed

As I wrote a post about earlier this week, I am taking part in the "Back to the Classics 2011" Challenge. As part of this challenge, I have to read a Pulitzer Prize winner or nominee and as I had "The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" by Junot Diaz waiting for me on a bookshelf, I took this opportunity to read it. It has been widely praised and I have been quite sure that I would like it but at the same time have not starting reading it for fear that it would be a disappointment... I know, silly!

The Oscar of the title is Oscar de Léon whose family the reader gets to know intimately. His grandfather, the famous doctor living in Santo Domingo while it was governed by the dictator Trujillo who stopped at nothing to eliminate suspected enemies. In this country of spying neighbours and fear, Oscar's family is struck by a fuku, a sort of curse which might follow them for several generations. Then there is Oscar's mother Beli who immigrates to USA because of the aforementioned Trujillo and who seems to be forever dissatisfied with her life and whose love is tough. In her home in New Jersey, Oscar and his formidable older sister Lola grow up but while Lola is a strong girl, a survivor with legs that go on forever, Oscar is a geek, a nerd and a loser. He loves role play, dungeons and dragons, manga, playing computer for hours and to make his life even harder, he is horribly overweight and loves girls. Falling in love and loving fiercely are central themes in this novel which is told not in chronological order but stumbling from one decade to another as we get to know the de Leons better and better.
I loved that the author did not let himself by confined by a need for chronological order. It makes the story come to life and keeps the reader guessing. What will happen now? Who is the narrator?

The book is very very well-written. My favourite part is that it mixes English with an abundance of spanish words and slang which at first was every so slightly difficult to understand but soon became part of the story and it added flavour and authencity to the tale. I knew nothing about Santo Domingo when I started out reading the book but as the story unfolds, the island plays a central role and now I find myself wanting to learn more about Santo Domingo and the story and culture of Santo Domingo. So if you have any suggestions for books about this topic, please send me a comment.

What really caught me about this book was not the style or the story as much as Oscar himself. At some points, especially during his college years, I was moved to tears because he is such a sweet boy. Such a good man and so lonely, so misunderstood and so sad. I wanted to put my arms around him and tell him that everything was going to be okay. That, for me, is the must impressive part of the book. That it brings Oscar to life, makes to a real person and made me want to get to know him and spend time with him and his cool sister Lola. Being able to do that, create that magic, is the gift of a great story teller.

Back to the Classics Challenge - Marching on in March

First I want to say that I am really pleased that Sarah - the creator of this challenge whose blog can be found at http://www.sarahreadstoomuch.blogspot.com/ - decided to extend this challenge. So instead of finishing in June, we are now finishing on the last day of 2011. So happy about that decision because honestly peope, I was getting stressed out.

Sarah herself, the mother of Back to the Classics Challenge 2011, has already read 6 out of 8 books! Myself I am way behind... story of my life, I guess. I have read two out of the 8 and I am half way in two more. So getting there but my speed is that of a turtle not that a of a hare.

HAVE READ FOR THIS CHALLENGE:
A Pulitzer Prize (Fiction) Winner or Runner Up:
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (half way through, hoping to finish it this week)

19th Century Classic:
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

20th Century Classic:
The Collector by John Fowles

Re-Read a book from your High School/College Classes:
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger (half way through this one as well...)


TO BE READ FOR THIS CHALLENGE:
A Banned Book:
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence

A Book with a Wartime Setting (can be any war)
Atonment by Ian McEwan or The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni

A Children's/Young Adult Classic
Peter Pan by J. Barrie

A Book you think should be considered a 21st Century Classic
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen or Tiger, Tiger by Margaux Fragoso

Have you signed up for this challenge? Otherwise head over to Sarah's blog and check it out, it is a great way of sharing the love of classics!

Review: "Wuthering Heights" - Wuthering emotions

Let me come clean straight away and admit that I read Emily Bronte's classic "Wuthering Heights" as part of Back to the Classics 2011 Challenge. I know that I should have read this before but I never got around to it so now seemed as a good time. What's more I have it in a really pretty hardback edition given to my by my wonderful Li'l Sis who is as addicted to books as I am.
This book was quite a read. The emotions run so high and I felt drained at times while reading it, constantly dreading the mental terror that was looming on the next page.

The story is a love story but not your regular man-meets-woman-and-they-end-up-happy story. This is the story of love gone wrong and of the intense relationship between love and hate. The plot is complicated though it's involves only few characters. However, I will give a very limited summary of some of the plot because I don't want to give too much away for those of you who haven't read this classic.
When Catherine and Hindley Earnshaw's father brings home an orphaned child to the family, he starts a life-long drama that will last a long way into the next generation. Earnshaw openly favours the orphan Heathcliff who is also a favourite of Catherine, they are best friends and sweethearts until the day Catherine's eyes are opened to the neighbouring family, the Lintons. Suddenly Catherine's allegiance sways and she favours Edgar Linton over Heathcliff. Heathcliff leaves the neighbourhood brokenhearted but years later he returns to revenge the pain that has been inflicted on him by jealous Hindley and flighty Catherine. Catherine is torn between her husband Edgar and her love of Heathcliff and Heathcliff is so obsessed by his hatred of Linton that he ends up concoting a scheme to take over everything that has belonged to the Earnshaw's and the Linton's, not caring who will have to pay the price for his broken heart.

Being honest, you would have to be made of stone not to be touched by this story. It is so full of raw emotions. The story takes place on the North English moors where nature rules, just as the emotions rules the space between Catherine and Heathcliff. Their love is almost an insanity and it craves large sacrifices and it was those sacrifices that touched me most and deepest.
Love seems to be a force to which all most bow and everything else must give way. And the children must pay for the folly of their parents, their punishment being almost Biblical as they become pawns in the game of Heathcliff.
It is disturbing reading but addictive and the ending took me by surprise. It is beautiful and raw and full of real emotions. Tired of washed-out paranormal teenage love? Then this is the perfect cure!

P.S. Don't miss out on this beautiful Kate Bush song Wuthering Heights

Another year, another challenge

Cruising around the web on this Friday night I came across a really cool challenge that I will definitely join. So far I have only joined one challenge for 2011 - Back to the Classics Challenge 2011 - but this one will be really great, I think.

The challenge is called 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. Named after a book about - well, title gives it away - I do find the title a little dramatic for my taste but I like the idea. It is hosted by Pub Writes at http://www.caitieflum.wordpress.com/ and I think you should join!

The challenge is simple – read some books from the list! Yyou can find a simple list online - I am using the Listology list.

Levels:
High School Diplomal: 5 books from the list
Bachelor’s Degree: 6-10 books from the list
Master’s Degree: 11-15 books from the list:
PHd: 16+

Rules:
Challenge runs January 1 2011 – Decemeber 31 2011.
You don’t have to make a list beforehand.
You can use any version of the list, not just the current, since they update it every couple years

Love this simple format and the great amount of wonderful books to choose from. I think it makes for good inspiration!

Here are the 46 that I have already read - still many to go...
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon
Fingersmith – Sarah Waters
Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides
Fury – Salman Rushdie
The Ground Beneath Her Feet – Salman Rushdie
The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
Alias Grace – Margaret Atwood
Morvern Callar – Alan Warner
The Virgin Suicides – Jeffrey Eugenides
The Robber Bride – Margaret Atwood
Foucault’s Pendulum – Umberto Eco
The Swimming-Pool Library – Alan Hollinghurst
The Bonfire of the Vanities – Tom Wolfe
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
The Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco
Interview With the Vampire – Anne Rice
The Graduate – Charles Webb
Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Truman Capote
The Talented Mr. Ripley – Patricia Highsmith
Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
The Story of O – Pauline Réage
Foundation – Isaac Asimov
Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell
A Handful of Dust – Evelyn Waugh
Tender is the Night – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Vile Bodies – Evelyn Waugh
Decline and Fall – Evelyn Waugh
The House of Mirth – Edith Wharton
Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë
Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
The Count of Monte-Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
Ivanhoe – Sir Walter Scott
Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen
Persuasion – Jane Austen
Emma – Jane Austen
Mansfield Park – Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
Justine – Marquis de Sade
Fanny Hill – John Cleland

Back to the Classics - what to read?

Enjoying a quite night in trying to put together a shortlist of books for the "Back to the Classics Challenge 2011".
Here is what I have so far:

- A Banned Book
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence

- A Book with a Wartime Setting (can be any war)
Atonment by Ian McEwan

- A Pulitzer Prize (Fiction) Winner or Runner Up:
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
American Pastoral by Philip Roth

- A Children's/Young Adult Classic
The Secret Garden by Frances Burnett
Peter Pan by J. Barrie
Little Women by Louisa Alcott

- 19th Century Classic
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
La Dame aux Camelias by Alexander Dumas

- 20th Century Classic
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

- A Book you think should be considered a 21st Century Classic
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

- Re-Read a book from your High School/College Classes
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

Back to the Classics Challenge 2011

Sarah over at Sarah Reads Too Much - http://www-sarahreadstoomuch.blogspot.com - has started the perfect challenge to take on in 2011! It is called "Back to the Classics Challenge 2011" and it is .... surprise... about reading and re-reading classics!

This is something that I have been wanting to do forever - not only read classics but read them in a structured manner. So of course I have signed up already and I really think that you should join :-)

Thechallenge is open to anyone who would like to participate and you join at Sarah's blog. There is a 6 month time frame for completion and the goals to complete are:

- A Banned Book
- A Book with a Wartime Setting (can be any war)
- A Pulitzer Prize (Fiction) Winner or Runner Up
- A Children's/Young Adult Classic
- 19th Century Classic
- 20th Century Classic
- A Book you think should be considered a 21st Century Classic
- Re-Read a book from your High School/College Classes

Not sure which books I will be going for. I am thinking maybe "Peter Pan" for Children's Classic - do you have any ideas?
For 20th Century Classic I will probably go for "Brideshead Revisited" by Evelyn Waugh... For the rest I will need to do some research before deciding.