the not-so-wondrous read

I'm reading the most popular Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. It's been hyped and re-hyped, and I was so looking forward to it. However, I am finding it really hard to get into. At page 25, I thought it was just because I hadn't read enough. Now at page 100, I'm no more excited about the book than I was back at 25.

The book doesn't capture me, which in general would be fine, I think. Except in this case, I feel unusually self-conscious about the book's lack of charm on me. It makes me feel that perhaps somehow this is because I am culturally insensitive and ignorant.

I can't relate to Oscar and his family as much as I would like, or as much as I perceive someone who LOVES the book would. More than anything, I can't relate to Oscar the way I think a Carribbean would. The book reads fast, almost stream of consciousness kind of fast (though certainly not disjointed). But what bothers me are the short little phrases or observations or exclamations that the characters regularly blurt out in Spanish. They are barriers to me. I have no idea what they mean and certainly would have no shot at relating to them culturally. While they are seldom central to the plot of the book, I nonetheleses feel alienated.

My gut tells me that part of the critical acclaim for the book probably stems from the cultural richness of the book, but all of that is lost on me, which makes me feel like a bad bad person. Why is it that I am just plain uninterested in Carribbean culture? Am I somehow subconsciously racist? None of this is helped by the most recent election poll and somehow fearing that if I had taken that poll, I would have discovered an ugly subconscious in myself.

But, but, but, I argue with myself, I became engrossed with the plight of minorities and women in Afghanistan after reading Khaled Hosseini, and the issues in Northern Pakistan after reading Three Cups of Tea. I was fascinated by Kabul and even pondered the possibilities to travel to that part of the world (and pondered the hindrances I would face as a woman if I ever tried to attempt what Greg Mortenson did). Those stories moved me, regardless of the cultural and ethnicity of the characters. I am no more Afghan than I am Pakistani than I am Dominican.

So maybe I just don't particularly like Diaz's writing style?

He is doing a community reading of his book this week. I feel like I should go, if only to garner a deeper appreciation of the culture surrounding book, and maybe in person, he can verbally express the printed words in an affecting way for me.

I'm really not sure if I'll finish the book, which seems like such a shame. I am told that it is good.