Thursday, April 10, 2008
Junot Diaz wins Pulitzer for “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao”
Recently seen in the news:
Junot Diaz’s Novel, “Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,” Wins Pulitzer
April 7 (Bloomberg)—Junot Diaz’s first novel, “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,’’ won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction today, having already won the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Diaz first made a splash with a book of short stories, “Drown,’’ in 1996, and then spent 10 years writing “Oscar Wao,’’ the story of a geeky boy from a Dominican family living in New Jersey.
This is interesting news for me because the author is a close friend of a colleague of mine at work. Having read The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, I can say that it is certainly worthy of a Pulitzer. I have yet to read Drown, but it also comes highly recommended by a number of people whose opinions about literature are generally right on the money. Consider reading either (or both). I don’t think you will regret it.