Community in Oscar Wao

I am reading the book "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao," the story on the life of a young, nerdy and socially inept Dominican immigrant, Oscar Wao, who has moved to the United States and is now living in a poor, hispanic neighborhood in New Jersey, and trying to integrate into American culture. One central theme in my book that I would like to discuss is community. The idea of a community, and those in your community is a huge social factor in the lives of Oscar and his family. Part of the reason is because of his Dominican heritage. In the Dominican Republic, barrios (aka close-nit neighborhoods) had to stick together to support one another financially, as well as protect from outside threats like gangs, drugs and the Trujillo regime (he was an evil, cruel dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic for much of the 20th century). Oscar lives in New Jersey now, but he is still essentially living in a barrio-the residents are almost all other poor Dominicans who look out for each other. But something that is interesting and unique about my book is that for Oscar, his community is a stifling, negative influence on his life. Usually, we read about strong communities that stick together to benefit one another. But that is not the case in this book. The amount of outside involvement in Oscar's life is a major detriment. Oscar and his sister are being raised by a single mother, who is hardworking but crazy and often physically abusive. His sister rebels from a young age, and goes through periods of being goth and emo, and starts drinking, doing drugs and dating much older men from a young age. These combined with the fact that Oscar is extremely shy, overweight and socially inept, a stigma against Oscar is soon established in the community, and so far in my reading Oscar has been unable to overcome it. Does anybody else have books in which community is a major theme? And if so, is it the typical, strong and supportive community, or something else?