Things have never been easy for Oscar. A ghetto nerd living with his Dominican family in New Jersey, he's sweet but disastrously overweight. He dreams of becoming the next J.R.R. Tolkien but keeps falling hopelessly in love. Meanwhile his punk sister Lola wants to run away, and his enduring mother Beli can't seem to let either of them go.

This warm, completely original and hugely acclaimed first novel tells the wondrous story of Oscar and his family, and their attempts to find love and belonging in America.

This is your book for Mission Bookcrossing. You have 24 hours to journal the book as well as to PM Brookler for your Mission.

This is a secret mission, so please do not post about it.

Secret mission received :)

This I wasn't expecting! Thank you agent lamelemon!! :))

The story is above my expectations! The story telling is as well extraordinary! - but I kind of expected it, since it's a Pulitzer prize winner ;)
It started off with the teenager's thoughts, but it goes deeper and deeper into the family's history (!) The single 'bright' one is Belicia's story, which I read breathless :)
Still have 100 pages for the week-end. Excellent!

I like this story so much! I am happy to share it with the BC-world! :)
Therefore I started a Ray, hoping that each participant will pass-on the book to someone interested in reading it!

It starts in Europe:
1. pam99 (Scotland)
2. sarahmangan (UK)
3. Tubereader (EU) --> the book will move on soon
5. Merolia (Gr)
6. okyrhoe (Gr) shipp intl
...?
End. lamelemon (Ro)

Enjoy it & please pass-it-on to the next reader!

arrived safely, I look forward to reading this one once I finish my current book!

enjoyed bits of this book, and the background on Dominican Republic was interesting, but I found I got mixed up with the jumps between generations and who was who! Poor Oscar...

I'm away for a couple of days but will pm the next reader now and get the book on its way once I'm back.

UPDATE - not sure if I forgot to send the email or if the next reader hasn't responded, I've been away from my emails a lot so it's also possible that I've missed a response. Sending again now for an address! (ANOTHER UPDATE: my sincere apologies, there was a response which I'd missed. I'm away again now until Saturday so this book will finally get on the move at the start of next week, so sorry for holding things up).

This came in the post today - thanks very much! I'll try my hardest to get this read and posted on before I go away on holiday on Tuesday... If not there will be another delay - sorry!

I really enjoyed this - great characters, great story and interesting background about the Dominican Republic. Made me wish my Spanish was a little less basic though: I'm sure I missed stuff! It's on the way to Spain next though so I'm sure the next reader won't have the same problem!

Thanks for including me in the ring:)

Posted on to the next reader - I hope you enjoy it!

The book has arrived safely (and really fast!).

I have a couple of rings ahead of it, but hopefully, it will be fast.

Thanks for sharing!

Quick note to let everybody know that I am starting to read this book.

I have very much enjoyed reading this book and all the stories that it contains. I also find very interesting the use of the language: written in English but with Spanish words in it.

The stories are sad and very dramatic, nevertheless, Diaz manages to make us laugh in some parts of the book.

Another one off the 1001 list!

Thanks for sharing!

I have PMed Merolia for her address, nevertheless, I believe she has limited Internet access for a few days so it could take a week or so for this book to continue its journey.