The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao sounds like one of those novels that you see everybody reading on the train, think you should love, but then end up resenting a little for its self-conscious whimsy. But, it is apparently very good. That is, at least, according to Variety who describe the book as "critically acclaimed" in their reporting of Miramax and Scott Rudin buying the rights to the newly published novel. We could only find a few reviews, but Amazon.com seemed to flip for it.
Junot Diaz's debut novel is the story of an overweight, sexually frustrated university student who fantasizes about beautiful women (It's like he wrote my life!). Entwined with his quest to find love is an exploration of his Dominican family history, which includes love, violence and a curse (Less like my life now).
Rudin is currently producing Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr Fox and Stephen Daldry's adaptation The Reader, the tale of a covert love affair in the wake of WWII, starring Nicole Kidman and Ralph Fiennes.