Late to the Game

I’d like to start a little section, hopefully to be visited upon every Friday, that I like to call “Late to the Game”. The idea was conceived of several years ago and reinforced by my brother and sister-in-law’s ongoing joke. Many years ago I arrived at my future sister-in-law’s apartment in Ames, IA to visit them for the weekend. As we sat shooting the proverbial poo, our conversation eventually turned toward music, as conversations involving college students have a tendency to do.

Just starting out in my musical ventures, I was continually discovering gems of transformative power and transcendent lyrics. Eager to earn marks with these weathered veterans of the college music scholars’ circle, I dropped on them a little ditty of a funky sweet folk tale. Round about ten seconds into the song my brother and sister-in-law traded looks and released giggles like five-year old girls rising into uproarious laughter that could not be calmed. Finally, as my musical find was wrapping up, my brother was able to reign in his breath and kindly explain to me that this new hip track was a solid three-to-four years old. What can I say, I’m late to the game.

Unfortunately, this was not an isolated occurrence. It seems that my cutting edge is about as sharp as a hammer. Music, books, movies, fashion, activities, whatever, I always happen to run a few years behind. That, in itself, should not stop me from sharing my great finds with the world. Thus, in this section, I will be reviewing, critiquing, and sharing my new finds with the anonymous void in cyberspace. Just be warned that my new finds may be a couple years behind the times.

First up this week is the most recent book I finished, “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” by Junot Diaz, released in 2007 and winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The immigrant novel for the new generation? Maybe, I don’t know if I’m qualified to comment as a native born white boy. The structure is not new to the game as Marquez’s influence is definitive throughout. However, I don’t have a problem with this because all writers must draw influence from someone, and at this point, is anything really truly original.

I’m assuming what caught a lot of people was his colorful use of urban language and Spanglish, an entertaining sidetrack if you weren’t in high school in the nineties. Twain utilized this same technique in Huck and in Tom, the so-called lingua franca. Aside from those distractions, Diaz weaves a series of short stories together to tell the multi-generational story of a Dominican family’s emigration from the DR to New Jersey and back again, while giving the reader a short history of the DR.

The primary focus of the story is on the modern mother with her defiant daughter and misfit son considering their lot in life and the potential curse on their family. Sections of the novel are slow-moving and sociological, presumably setting the groundwork for the greater story of the title character Oscar. Diaz does well in working the details of Oscar into the reader without exacerbating the reader. The pudgy outcast who cites Tolkien, writes sci-fi, and pines over every third girl, becomes the loveable loner you have to pull for. Add in the elements of mysticism derived from the Dominican culture, and Diaz puts together an engaging read backed up by his absorbing accounts of his cultural heritage.

In rating all things I don’t know what exactly to use. I only have two thumbs and that doesn’t seem to count for much. Ten points is a lot of variation without definition. Therefore, I will give this book two evaluations. First is whether I would recommend this book or not. Yes, I would recommend this book to you no matter what your interests. It is engrossing and unique enough to be a worthwhile read for anyone, no matter your interests, and its breath of topics and issues means it’s most people should find something to like about it. The second evaluation is the one I use for my personal information. I like TV. I’m not a fanatic, I don’t watch every new show that comes out, but I probably watch at least a show or two a day, even if it is just re-runs of Seinfeld, Friends, or Law and Order. That said, my second evaluation standard is “would I read this book instead of watching TV.” Diaz’s book achieves this standard, surpassing the draw of most television programming, persuading me to pass the remote for another hour while I finish a couple more pages.

This concludes my first installment of “Late to the Game”. Join me next Friday when I will be reviewing the musical talents of Jack White. Until then.