Oscar is a recluse with many social cue failures. He was unhappy and seemed to have a hard time launching into his life. I thought it would be story about him finding his groove, however the focus of the story shifts and then becomes a narrative of his family, including his sister Lola, his mother Hypathia, and his grandfather and grandmother, Inca (My favorite character), and takes us back further and further into the past. 
 His grandfather and grandmother lived through the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic. For them a lot of what shaped their lives was out of their control. But as the generations pass and they escape the dictator's shadow and manage to move to the US to live out the "American Dream", its clear that their problems run deeper than where they lived and are deeply embedded in who they are. When the story shifts to refocus on Oscar, we find he continues to wallow in self pity and shows no growth, makes one bad decision after the next and well you'll see the ending; leaving me feeling nothing for him. 
 To be honest the least compelling aspect and character of this book was Oscar. To me the story was more about his family and their relation to each other and the Dominican Republic. I certainly learned some interesting tidbits about the country's history and I found the family's development throughout their lives compelling and profound.