Oscar Wao and others

I’ve finished some books recently that all deserve a mention. First up was “Walking the Camino” by Australian Tony Kevin, which described an eight week pilgrimage through Spain to Santiago de Compostela. It was very pleasant reading and was an intended motivational piece for my European trip. Ash and I probably walked a lot more than we expected around Europe, but nothing in the league of Tony’s trip. 3.5 stars.

Next up was another slightly frustrating work by Canadian David Richard Adams with “The Friends of Meager Fortune”. Let me say it was a TON better than his latest piece which I read a few months back. The sense of trepidation and danger in the description of the massively overloaded horse wagons on the dangerously steep slopes was palpable, however I still get the sense that Richards thoroughly enjoys making his anti-heroes and the reader suffer to a ridiculous extent. It stretched the boundaries of belief at times, but was thoroughly enjoyable. 4.5 stars.

Lastly, “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” by Junot Diaz. This book suffered a little from disjointed reading, and after Lhosa’s “The Feast of the Goat” a few months back, none of the Dominican stuff was a surprise to me, so I took for granted some of the more shocking elements of it. I was completely enthralled by it, and apart from a couple of moments when I lost track of which person was telling the story, it was wonderfully up front and funny in the way that “Vernon God Little” was. Contemporary storytelling. Loved it, although you couldn’t get any different from the Adams book I’d read beforehand. 4.5 stars also.