Michael Silverblatt Rules Book Interviews 4-EVA

Ever since listening to this Bookworm interview with Junot Diaz, I think of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao differently.

The interview raises what I see as essential questions about the book and the intention of the author. I tried to type them up exactly as they were phrased on the show, but I don't think I captured them all completely--definitely listen to the show to get the full questions and discussion around them. (Warning: there are sort-of spoilers in the interview, so maybe wait until you've finished the book.)

• Was it possible for Yunior to ever love Lola? Does his failure to love her brother Oscar represent a failure to love not only Lola, but Dominican history as a whole?
  
• Is this book--Yunoir says my book--is this [book] a warding off of the curse (fuku) or is it the next generation of the curse?
• We're usually not very tolerant of other small lives, even if our lives have been small. And sometimes we'll be tolerant of a small life, and then next thing we know we're not longer tolerant...Being human--one of the things Oscar's character keeps asking is is being human something that you do once, you make one choice and it proves that you're human? Or is it a choice you have to keep making through your whole life? I think most people like to pretend you reach a certain age and you become a human. I've always felt that every day life puts you in a box and says are you human today or are you an animal?
• Or does the book ask, are you human today, or are you an addict (to sex, to a fantasy world, to a dictatorship)? Are you fighting the daily fight or have you given up to an addiction?

Seriously, this interview is amazing and absolutely a cliff notes on what we should talk about at book club. Here it is embedded, because that's a cool thing bloggers do: