Summer 2021 (July);

Another recommended pick-up from my APSI summer class, and another drilling down into the lives of persons of color.

This one started so well worded by pointing out 'The fact that I am writing to you in English already falsifies what I wanted to tell you.' It was such a chillingly beautiful thing to see so clearly put forward. That the stories were already displaced by being put in the wrong language, same as the life lived and spoken in it. Already we being in a liminal space between language, cultures, and states of being.

This piece did so well at showing us the complicated network of the feelings and thought in multifaceted cultural interactions here. Sorrow and joy always mingled and sullied just slightly by the balance it had to hold itself in. This is a good eye-opener and reminder of those experiences being had around us, that they deserve the same respect and compassion as our own always. ( )

These short stories capture Yunior's early life in the DR, his relationship with his older brother and his mother and his lack of a relationship with his absent father, who was already in Nuevo York. Sad, poignant, but still funny in places. ( )

I didn't care for it.

This book seems to appeal to two audiences: those who identify with the characters, and those who find novelty in the experiences.

There is nothing wrong with this, but if you're not someone who enjoys the stories' resemblance to your own life, and you've experienced enough that the situations in these stories are not new or even unique, then the book doesn't offer much else.

The characters are unremarkable, and the stories themselves are rather pointless (not showing any particular insight, character development, etc). Reading Drown was like reading someone's journal: unless you are interested in the person themselves, it's just not all that interesting.
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Diaz does a great job on giving you the feel for the Dominican immigrant experience. Although this is a story collection, it feels like a novel because it deals with the same characters as it bounces through different time frames and locals. Some in the Dominican Republic and some in New Jersey/NYC. His prose is great but sometimes you don't always have a feel for the characters, but what you do get is how difficult life can be for so many and especially for immigrants who don't speak the language. Our country is not always that welcoming but people still want to come here. This is a worthwhile read to get some insight into parts of life for which I have no personal experience. He has written 3 books and they are all excellent with one winning the Pulitzer prize. Still waiting for something new from him. ( )

I read this book as part of a neighborhood wide book discussion. Ever since my neighborhood announce that "Drown: would be this year's read, I was curious about Junot Diaz. It turned out that he is popular with the "younger" crowd. "Drown" consists of ten short stories, which are all in some way connected to the life of Yunior. The perspective of the stories is different in each story. Sometimes Yunior tells the story himself,, one story is from the point of view of a boy (Ysrael) who is bullied by Yunior and his brother. The last story, "Negocios", tells about the experiences of Yuniors' wayward father.
The method of grouping multiple short stories under one theme works well in this case. Events and personalities become multilayered. It allows the reader change his opinion about a character. Yunior is no saint, he bullies, steals, lies and deals drugs, but nevertheless we feel sympathy for him.

Even though this book is not a style of writing I read a lot, I enjoyed it. I am looking forward to the discussion in two weeks. The day after Junot Diaz will do a reading and do an interview in a local theather; of course I am going.
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