Oct 7, 2008

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao | Related Titles / Adaptations

Although it is much older than Díaz’s novel, J. D. Salinger’s perennial classic, Catcher in the Rye (1951), is written in a similar tone. Holden Caulfield, the main character, cannot quite fit in, though he wants to desperately. In this novel of teenage angst and depression, readers gain an insider’s view of how one young man slips into a deepening frustration and isolation.

In his first book, Drown, Díaz recounts the trials of another young Dominican man growing up in the States. The character’s emotions and the experiences, though, are not limited by culture:...