The Lamentable Journey of Omaha Bigelow into the Impenetrable Loisaida Jungle
{{short description|2004 novel by Edgardo Vega Yunqué}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{infobox book
| name = The Lamentable Journey of Omaha Bigelow into the Impenetrable Loisaida Jungle
| author = Edgardo Vega Yunqué
| image = Vega Yunqué, Omaha Bigelow, cover.jpg
| border = yes
| cover_artist = from Getty Images
| caption = First edition
| country =
| language = English
| genre = picaresque, magic realism, metafiction
| published = 2004 (The Overlook Press)
| media_type = Print (Hardback)
| pages = 352
| isbn = 978-1-58567-630-9
}}
The Lamentable Journey of Omaha Bigelow into the Impenetrable Loisaida Jungle is a 2004 novel by Edgardo Vega Yunqué.{{family name hatnote|Vega|Yunqué|lang=Spanish}}
The novel follows Omaha Bigelow, a 35-year-old failure, with whom Maruquita Salsipuedesa, a 15-year-old bruja, falls in love. She has her mother perform a "Ceremony of Enlargement" that makes him frequently irresistible to women, and picaresque, magic realist, erotic adventures follow.
Omaha Bigelow
Regarding the title: "Loisaida" is the Nuyorican pronunciation of "Lower East Side".
Reception
Reviews were positive in general, although some criticized the authorial intrusions.
{{blockquote|Such intrusions become recurrent ...—but always exhibiting a biting sense of humor and always intricately related to the ongoing narrative. This is a novel without precedent, a challenge for critics but also a pleasure for the attentive reader.{{cite news|newspaper=The Washington Post|title=Full of surrealistic surprise ...|last=Ayala|first=Naomi|date=2005-03-13}}|Naomi Ayala|The Washington Post Book World}}
{{blockquote|How does he make the connection between American life and politics and tell the tale of an underendowed punk-rocker and an unlucky-in-love bruja? I promise you, he makes it work.{{cite news|newspaper=The Hartford Courant|title=It's Yunqué's world, and welcome to it|last=Ubinas|first=Helen|date=2004-12-12|url=http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:AWNB:HRCB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=107221304FAA2723&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggdocs&req_dat=0FA5BD299B01E287|page=G3}}|Helen Ubinas|The Hartford Courant}}
{{blockquote|[T]his wild and wonderful novel should hit home with its dark humor and its bittersweet humanity.{{cite news|newspaper=The San Juan Star|location=Puerto Rico|page=P-5|title=Journey—Into Loisaida|first=Robert|last=Friedman|date=2005-05-01|url=http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:AWNB:SJSB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=10E5291CE959DD9A&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=0FA5BD299B01E287}}|Robert Friedman|The San Juan Star}}
{{blockquote|Vega Yunqué has a keen intelligence, an ear for dialogue and a flair for zany passages of magic realism, but this sprawling, digressive book sinks under the weight of its snazzed-up style.{{cite journal|journal=Publishers Weekly|title=The Lamentable Journey of Omaha Bigelow into the Impenetrable Loisaida Jungle|date=2004-11-01|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-58567-630-9}}|?|Publishers Weekly}}
{{blockquote|Vega Yunqué’s lavish comic imagination fills the narrative with wonderfully offbeat characters .... But the novel collapses into metafictional mannerisms as Vega Yunqué inserts his opinions into the text ad nauseam ....{{cite journal|journal=Kirkus Reviews|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/edgardo-vega-yunque-2/the-lamentable-journey-of-omaha-bigelow-into-the-i/|title=The Lamentable Journey of Omaha Bigelow into the Impenetrable Loisaida Jungle|date=2004-10-01}}|?|Kirkus Reviews}}
Notes
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References
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{{Edgardo Vega Yunqué}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamentable Journey of Omaha Bigelow into the Impenetrable Loisaida Jungle}}
Category:Novels set in New York City
Category:The Overlook Press books
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