This is how You Lose Her

Great book. First I've ever read by Junot Diaz. I'm going to go pick up my quarter read copy of 'The Brief Life of Oscar Wao' thanks to these short stories. Ten 10's, my people.

"You ask everybody you know: how long does it usually take to get over it? There are many formulas. One year for every year you dated. Two years for every year you dated. It’s just a matter of willpower: The day you decide it’s over, it’s over. You never get over it." The book is a collection of short stories. It had been on my tbr for a long while now, and it is a relatively short read, so I finished it within a day. As is the case with any collection of short stories, you are bound to like some more than the others, and hate some more than the others. I loved the first few and the last more. The middle part was more monotonous, hammering over predictable corners. I especially liked the chapter, The Cheater's guide to love, because it sort of culminated all of it. I am not particularly a fan of happy endings and so this was one major point for the book.

The whole book felt completely fresh and surprising, and even a day after finishing I'm still feeling hopped up on it. It's an unabashedly hetero-masculine point of view, in a way that specifically excludes women from identifying with it. This sounds negative but that's not at all how I (as a woman) experienced the book; rather, it was eye-opening and exhilarating and, well, fresh and surprising. There were a lot of slang words, which I had to look up. There were a lot of Spanish words, which I had to look up. There were a lot of $50 Harvard words, which I had to look up. This mix of street/Latino/highbrow made the book vivid and vibrant. Highly recommend.

DNF; maybe I'll come back to it, but it did not grab my attention.

"The half-life of love is forever"- that line describes this entire book of threaded stories. Every book I've read of Junot Diaz has the love/cheating, working class Dominican/raw theme to it, my first introduction to his voice and style was Wao. I couldn't stop reading that book just as I couldn't stop reading this one. His voice is staccato and engaging, moving you from one sentence to the next in a breathless fluidity I haven't experienced elsewhere. People have noted that they would like to see other themes explored in his work and while this would exemplify his genius (pun intended, he was just names a MacArthur Fellow) as a writer I get it- there is the languid part of our souls that need exploration, that need tending to to be understood, to be feared less, to be cried out. What better way than to write through it? I'm not going to knock any stars of the book for theme repetition. I understand that people will, however. Most of the stories were strong and in his characteristic 2nd person POV and he just makes it work. If any other writers writing today tried this it would fail, belly up, in its own waste. I loved most of the stories. I liked a few. I want to reread Otra vida, Otra vez, absorb it, memorize it, know it. That is how a story should be written. That is how a story should move. I'm giving this book 5 stars because I'm a fan of gritty fiction, I write gritty, I've lived gritty and this book is affirmation that there is beauty in sorrow.

Diaz shows me that it’s okay to write in your own voice. That it’s okay to write what you’re too afraid to say or feel. Unapologetic, genuine, raw. This collection is a must read for any poc or immigrant who is struggling to find their voice. While the men in this collection are awful, Diaz makes us root for their success and we hope they’re able to find redemption. Yunior is a fascinating character who is horrifyingly realistic and selfish beyond belief. We were all Yunior at one point in our lives.

oh man. this was really well-written and i just love diaz's writing, but something i always keep in mind when reading his work is the good faith that, you know, the author isn't the same person as the narrator (although it's been noted his work is intensely autobiographical) and we all know the rampant misogyny, the cheating, the ill treatment of women, is acknowledged to be terrible by both reader and author and they're not really like that—he's learned better, right? reading through the 1-star and 2-star reviews that call out diaz for the terrible sexism in his writing, i originally stuck to that good faith despite any misgivings i had. i was deeply moved by his new yorker piece, "the legacy of childhood trauma," and reminded myself that unlikable, terrible characters do not necessarily make for bad writing. and he's such a good writer! really! but after the recent news of his sexual misconduct and treatment of women, i really don't have that good faith anymore and i cannot read or enjoy his work in the same way. so i'm gonna have to drop my rating.

Enjoyed it immensely. The short story style with certain characters running through it made it good for the long read or the intermittent reader. The strong point was the beautiful diction and syntax. While still maintaining realness.

I expected to like this book way more than I did. I was surrounded by hype about it so I just picked it up. I was generous with a 2 star/"it was ok" rating, because truly, it was nothing remarkable. The protagonist is one of the most unlikeable protagonists I've ever come across, and the excess of cheating just makes me cringe. What was that random chapter with Yasmin? I didn't mind it, but why just one? Having a single chapter with one character and the rest of the book being about someone else just seems like a mistake. Just... out of place. My life could've gone on perfectly the same without this book in it. I don't get the hype at all. I guess his writing is good? It was really hard getting past the awful characters and uninteresting story. I wouldn't recommend this book... I wouldn't recommend against it either, it just would just slip into the depths of unremarkability and I would not take it into account, that's all.

I hated the main character so much, I couldn’t find anything to like about them.

I love Diaz' style of writing. I think I might like this one more that Oscar Wao, the short stories all follow different story archs but still make a cohesive volume.