Overall, I have mixed feelings about The Brief Wondrous Life of Oskar Wao. There were certain things, such as the footnotes and genres, that I really liked about the novel however there were some things that bothered me. First, Diaz’ use of footnotes and genres was really entertaining because it not only gave insight into the characters, Oskar especially, but it also lightened the mood of the novel itself. It was a good balance to the darker aspects such as the details about Trujillo, the curse of the Fuku, and Oskar’s death. In addition, the footnotes made me laugh and I can appreciate any novel that does that. I especially liked Diaz’ incorporation of the genres because I felt like they really helped me to understand Oskar as a person. While I did not get all of the references such as authors like Burroughs, Alexander, and Bova, I still appreciated them because I do have some interest in the genres. I also liked the historical accounts of the Dominican Republic because prior to reading the book, I did not have much knowledge about the DR’s history. I did some researching on Trujillo’s reign and learned that he had secret police who killed and imprisoned opponents and deprived citizens of freedoms and civil rights. He also slaughtered tens of thousands of Haitians in 1937. (I know in class we discussed the DR’s hatred for Haitians). One problem though I had with the book was Yunior as the narrator. We do not find out that he is the narrator for a while and he seems almost omniscient in the way that he narrarates. It seems to unrealistic. Going back to what we discussed in class, he does in fact come across as an unreliable narrator. I think that Lola would have been a more reliable and credible narrator.