A book that was made much of because there was much to make. In prose that sets the standard for 21st century eloquence, Franzen created a fictional midwestern family, the Lamberts, from the fictional city of St. Jude, then splayed them open for us so we could pick through their lives and their psyches in molecular detail. Chip, the clever, amiable screwup; Denise, the hard-driving lesbian chef; Gary, the “conventional” sibling, a banker who did everything his parents wanted him to and can’t understand why they don’t love him. As diligently as they work to mess up their own lives, they remain forever hopeful, even as the grand imperial America of the 20th century slowly falls to pieces around them.
This one was supposed to be on last decade’s best-of list: Diaz’s novel, the follow-up to his prizewinning debut story collection Drown, was 11 years in the making. It was worth the wait. Oscar Wao — it’s a Dominican transliteration of Oscar Wilde — is the nickname of a fat, science-fiction-writing, Dungeons and Dragons-playing Dominican nerd growing up in New Jersey. Diaz follows the story of Oscar’s family backward to the old country, and the reign of the tyrant Rafael Trujillo, which warped it beyond repair, and then forward to Oscar’s tragic and, strangely, exalted end.
In light of the Material Girl performing at Super Bowl XLVI, TIME takes a look at her life and career, both of which have been lived firmly in the public eye.
