Joel Arquillos: The Last Book I Loved, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

I absolutely loved Junot Diaz’s The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. I never thought a story about the childhood I lived would make an interesting novel, but I was completely wrong. Junot wrote the book I wish I could have written, except that my main character’s family would have been Cuban and their dictator and tormenter would certainly have been Fidel instead of Junot’s Trujillo. Not since the Sopranos has New Jersey been spotlighted in such an authentic and tragic way (sadly, this is the only view of NJ most people have). Sure, say what you want about the most misunderstood, butt-of-every-joke state, but this book reveals the true heart of most first generation Hispanic/Latino American’s experience in Jersey. You would never have guessed that Spanish-speaking sci-fi junkies exist, but they do, and they’re nerdier than the suburbanites you usually see at COMICON. But what’s even more authentically expressed in this book is the passion and insanity that is every Hispanic/Latino American’s experience. We really do fight and torture each other the way Junot conveys. Maybe it’s because we’ve inherited a genetically evolved intensity that is uniquely South American? Who knows? Whatever it is, there’s finally a story about Jerseyites out there that I’m sort of proud of.