Enter the weird, wonderful world of Oscar Wao

When it comes to recommending books rather than movies, I feel more than a little like Nixon, especially since I only manage to read six or so a year nowadays. Having just completed "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao," however, I'm confident in giving it my full endorsement.

The debut novel by MIT professor Junot Diaz was actually a long time in the making, coming 11 years after his 1996 volume of short stories, "Drown" (which I'll be reading very soon to satiate my hunger for more).

In a tale fitting of its long gestation period, Diaz here not only takes on the story of the titular Dominican "ghetto nerd" Oscar, but also three generation of the Cabral/De Leon women and the modern history of the Dominican Republic to boot. Like many Caribbean nations in the 20th century, the DR was ruled a strongman, Rafael Trujillo, who along with ravaging his homeland also managed to bestow upon the Cabral clan a "fuku," or curse.

Diaz's tale of how this "fuku" inflicts itself on the family is often heartbreaking (in case you can't tell from the title, Oscar is pretty much doomed from the very start) but also written with a style that has it crackling with energy. Oscar, despite being an enormously fat individual possessing none of the Dominican male's innate skills to be a mack, still insists on walking up to women he's never met before and displaying his best version of "game," with pretty much uniformly disastrous results. And I guarantee you'll laugh out loud when you hear how poor Oscar earned his titular nickname (his real name is Oscar De Leon).

But while Oscar is nominally the hero of this story, Diaz's novel is at its strongest when it tells the tales of the De Leon/Cabral women, Oscar's rebellious sister Lola and long-suffering mother Belicia. In short, it's a well-told tale that's at once both intimate and epic in scope, and I would go so far as to compare Diaz's writing style to John Irving, which from me is a compliment of the highest order.

A word of warning: Diaz has a tendency to lapse way into geek speak ("Lord of the Rings," "Akira" and "Watchmen" being his principal inspiration) or write entire passages in Spanish, but if you stick with it I guarantee it will be well worth your time.

So, how in the world did I find this book after much of the world already had? Through movies, of course. Specifically, Rebecca Hall, in an interview about the simply enchanting "Vicky Christina Barcelona," mentioned that she had just finished one of my favorite books, Michael Chabon's "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" (which the Coens should really make into a movie), and was currently reading Diaz's book. With a recommendation like that, I had to bite.

And speaking of movies, I'll close with the trailer for "Sunshine Cleaning," a flick about a woman (Amy Adams) who is forced by her situation to get into the cheerful business of cleaning up crime scenes. I'm not sure when or if this one will ever hit theaters, but enjoy the trailer anyway, because what day isn't at least a little better with a dose of Amy Adams? Peace out.