A Fusion of Attractiveness

Abstract

Page 14 American Book Review A Fusion of Attractiveness Roberto Ontiveros The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Díaz Riverhead Books http://us.penguingroup.com 352 pages; cloth, $24.95 the kind of Latina goddesses one finds in those Love and Rockets comics. And the historical information, provided by numerous footnotes and nimble parenthetical asides, ensure that a reader of Wao will be enlightened while entertained. But Wao also assumes that its comic book references will be received along with the recognitions of academic duties. A scene where Oscar is getting beaten up in a field by two thugs dubbed after DC comics villains: “He tried to drag himself into the cane, but they pulled him back! It was like one of those nightmare eight-a.m. MLA panels: endless. Man, Gorilla Grod said, this kid is making me sweat.” The voice is an erratic slum of street slang and academic jargon. It works, but the reader must take a few things for granted, namely that The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is definitely trying to be a new kind of fiction—a book about immigration and comic books; graduate studies, virginity, and the violence that stands outside of both institutions.And that maybe the best way to comfortably excuse and align these themes is to have them delivered by way of a fictional creative writing instructor. Roberto Ontiveros has published short stories in several literary journals including The Threepenny Review and the Santa Monica Review, as well as the anthology Hecho en Tejas. He has written book criticism for The Texas Observer, the Austin AmericanStatesman , and the Dallas Morning News. He also provided the images for book three in the Dos Press chapbook series. Granados continued from previous page Norte” by Emilio Carballido, the man who “changed the course of Mexican theater.” I liked the bare bones way the dramatist talked about writing and what it takes to be a writer. The selection Peden devotes to Carballido is a good lesson for any student of prose. “The person who wants to learn to express himself through the written word must practice writing with some consistency and must learn to enjoy it. If you do not enjoy putting down your ideas, you have no chance of surviving a literary career: the best prize for writing is to write.” Peden’s book is a good primer for the uninitiated (like me), an uplifting pep talk to up-and-coming writers (i.e., high-school and college students) and a reminder to literary scholars of the great Mexican intellect. I, like Peden, can envision a time when there will be a free literary exchange between the US and Mexico, “and it may be that one day a natural balance will be achieved.” Unfortunately, it just won’t happen in my lifetime. Christine Granados is a working mother, who has written numerous reviews, essays, feature articles, and a short story collection, Brides and Sinners in El Chuco. single collection of powerful short stories that traces a male psyche from a Dominican third world to an urban New Jersey. His book Drown (1996) focused on lust and learning, ideas about cheating and working , and an immigrant’s immersion into theAmerican experience. Wao expands on these earlier pieces but enriches the set tropes of machismo and class struggle by incorporating a heavy dose of true life Dominican politics and several strong feminine points of view. Letting Oscar’s sexy post-punk sister, Lola, and tough-as-nails mother, Belicia, have their say, balances the terrific sense of lust and male-oriented loneliness that permeates nearly every page of this novel. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a new kind of fiction. Oscar de Leon is no everyman. He is an example of a nervous and perpetual gluttony, a mode of pop-culture consumption that will become refined and even picky with its taste but is in the end a useless appetite. Oscar reads and watches and eats. His fatness can take no expression. He has no direct sense of belonging. His comfort being junk fiction and junk food does not nourish, and as he grows up, his hobbies and leanings...