Watchung Booksellers reminds us that Junot Diaz will be in Baristaville tonight, from 7-8 pm at the Montclair Public Library. Some background from the Watchung Booksellers newsletter…
This is the long-awaited first novel from one of the most original and memorable writers working today.
Things have never been easy for Oscar, a sweet but disastrously overweight, lovesick Dominican ghetto nerd. From his home in New Jersey, where he lives with his old-world mother and rebellious sister, Oscar dreams of becoming the Dominican J. R. R. Tolkien and, most of all, of finding love. But he may never get what he wants, thanks to the Fukoe — the curse that has haunted the Oscar’s family for generations, dooming them to prison, torture, tragic accidents, and, above all, ill-starred love. Oscar, still waiting for his first kiss, is just its most recent victim.
This guy is one of my fave contemporary writers. I first read his work in New Yorker. I would see him in a heartbeat but have a previous engagement.
I read his excerpt of “Alma” in the current New Yorker ish. Very interesting. Profane and funny.
Profane and funny — sounds like my husband.