This is How You Lose Her

This is How You Lose Her

Junot Diaz, 2012 

Riverhead Books, 224 pgs.

I'm just going to jump into this, "This is How You Lose Her" is a fantastic book. Period. Here's why...

The book is a series of nine short stories that focus on Yunior's tenuous love life. A misogynistic, but heart-of-gold Dominican Culo who cannot seem to keep his carajo in his fucking pants. The short stories are about his incredibly flawed but strong women that he has loved in his lifetime, whether it be romantic, physical, familial or otherwise.

It's safe to say that this is a testosterone driven book. Yunior is an asshole to the classic degree. He can't seem to keep a relationship together, he is always cheating on his young ladies. In the book we start to see the development of how he treats women via his brother's relationships ("The Pura Principle" pg. 89, "Nilda" pg. 27) his relationship with his mami and how his papi influenced it ("Invierno" pg.119) and other outside influences ("the Cheater's Guide to Love" pg. 173, "Otravida, Otravez" pg. 49). Yet throughout the book, you cannot seem to want to hate him and his womanising ways. This is the culture he grew up in, which is vastly different from out “whitepeople” 's views on relationships. This is not to say that what he's doing to these women are in any way good, but it's good to go into this book understanding that he doesn't purposefully seek out and do harm to his lovers. 

As much as the short story genre is making a comeback in a big way The stories are not what captured my attention as much as they way Diaz writes. My God, can this man WRITE. Every single sentence works, there isn't one word in any of his paragraphs that doesn't have a purpose. You know how sometimes you're reading a book or a paragraph and it feels like some sentences and words were unnecessary fillers? Not this book, Everything flows so beautifully, Case in point, when Yunior gets caught (yet again) cheating, this time by an incriminating journal entry his girlfriend found:

“Instead of lowering your head and copping to it like a man, you pick up the journal as one might hold a baby's beshatted diaper, as one might pinch a recently benutted condom. You glance at the offending passages. Then you look at her and smile a smile your dissembling face will remember until the day you die. Baby, you say, baby,  this is   part of my novel. This is how you lose her. “ 

(Diaz. From “Alma” pg.48)

Yeah I know right?  Fucking, FAN-TAS-TIC!
The short stories don't just exist, they're breathing, beating, alive. I'm in love with this book, and it's not just me. In closing, you need to go read this book. They will change the way you look at literature for months to come. 

Book Haiku:

This book is a treat.

Revel in your heart, breaking.

Forever a fan.