r/books discussion

Howdy r/books,

I just started reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz after being pointed in its direction on r/BookSuggestions and then looking up some reviews through various sites.

Unfortunately, I was unaware of the use of Spanish throughout it. I'm Canadian, and as such, have absolutely no understanding of the Spanish language (if only it were French!). I'm about 100 pages in and while I am enjoying the character development (it's what I seek out in books) I get pulled out of the book by Googling sentences for translations or just moving on without really comprehending what's been said.

I guess I was wondering if anyone else with limited knowledge of Spanish has read this book, and if so, did you have trouble getting through it? Does not knowing those little phrases (even with Google translate I can't be sure they're write or applied correctly) affect the overall story and understanding of it? I just don't want to get to the end of the book and feel I missed out.

If anyone could help curb that fear or offer suggestions on how to overcome the language barrier, it would be greatly appreciated!

I don't think you're meant to overcome the language barrier. I think you're supposed to taste the words.

Supposed to read them aloud, and feel them on your tongue.

It's kinda odd to explain, but every time I read a book like that, doesn't have to be Spanish, it could have words of other languages, I take a moment to read the word. It's not something you understand and something the writer had to put in there because there was no other way to write it, for him/her that was the word, will always be that way. An acceptance of how life is.

You can post the passages on here which confused you and we'll give it a shot at what Diaz wrote and what he meant.

That's is a really good point Annie, I remember when we read the book together during our English class, you loved the book and I hated it. Unfortunately I still do. Too rambling for me. I guess I am the more linear type. But that's okay. My Spanish is very regional and is made up of a dialect that unless I am in a certain village in SA no one could understand.

I think though, that Annie is right when she says, that the poetry of the words is more important then what they actually mean.

Megan wrote: " I think though, that Annie is right when she says, that the poetry of the words is more important then what they actually mean. ..."

I second this to an extent. The author also has to understand that a large part of his audience may not speak the language and if he doesn't want to discourage or alienate his readers he should work hard to make the story understandable to his non spanish-speaking audience.

I also agree with you Ashley, it has to be done sparingly.

This is one of my favorite reads in 2012. It's such a refreshingly powerful book and I agree with Annie when she said that "you're [not] meant to overcome the language barrier. I think you're supposed to taste the words." It feels so new and reading it felt like I'm discovering a world of immigrants that was totally alien to me. I'm walking in a world where I have never been before. I loved it.

This also reminded me of the top post of all time at /r/books:



This book has nothing on Burgess's A Clockwork Orange. NADSAT was hard work but it made me feel so accomplished when I was finally done with it.

Hahahahaha I love the quote! Saw him interviewed at UNLV - fascinating and very funny man!

I've read this book as well as This is How You Lose Her. I found the spanish to be a little much, as at a few points I felt like I had really missed a particular character trait or turning point. Compare this to the spanish in Cormac McCarthy books where the spanish is always supplementary dialogue that really doesn't need to be completely understood.

I don't know how you feel about this book in general, but I disliked it considerably, while really enjoying his newer work. I feel like Oscar Wao was a learning curve and he further developed the same style into something more consistent with Lose Her.

I think part of the reason why Diaz writes like this is because for him, it just fits to put the Spanish in, it's who his characters are, how they think, so he uses it, not caring what other people think. A bilingual person doesn't think in one language but in both and mixes the language a lot. But then again Tolkien did that for elvish, so would his bilingual language be elvish?