understanding (n.)

That's still happening. I'm just slow. Again, my book club posts will almost always contain spoilers. (Knowing is half the battle!)

Last book:

From the jacket:

"Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd, a New Jersey romantic who dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love. But Oscar may never get what he wants. Blame the curse that has haunted Oscar's family for generations, following them on their epic journey from the Dominican Republic to the United States and back again."

Themes:

Love, race, gender structure, immigration / multi-culturalism

So this is where I am with this book. It's not for the faint hearted. It's not. Profanity. Some violent scenes. And. Really. Very engaging.

This one got a thumbs up from all book club participants, but not all participants saw the reason for the Pulitzer Prize behind it. One of the women in the group claims that video gamers will adore this little gem of a novel as Oscar is completely entrenched in the gaming world.

(I did not understand most of those references. It is ok. I may be a video game ignorant, but I am pretty darn good at Mario Bros 1, 2 and 3.)

Also, many lines in Spanish. Some felt this detracted them from the focus of the novel. Personally, I felt like I was getting an insider's view to a previously unopened world ... almost like I was being let in on an insider's joke. Also distracting for some were the copious footnotes. Again, insider's joke. I like to be in the know - a completely big picture person.

Next book?

(postscript, we had actually tried to read Cormac McCarthy's "Suttree" for this upcoming meeting, but, void one, we all failed miserably. not a bad book, by ANY stretch of the imagination, but one with many layers. because most of us were attempting to finish up term projects for grad school, and one amazing woman is working on her doctoral dissertation, we just couldn't get into it. takes concentration, that one. i'm putting it on my summer list.)