Lavina's review
Drown
by Junot Díaz
Lavina's review
Drown by Junot Díaz
Lavina's review
rating:
bookshelves:
2007,
fiction,
short-stories_novellas
Seeing Junot Díaz read from his new novel the other night reminded me of how I've been wanting to read this collection for years. In person he is charismatic, opinionated, humble, and full of wit. He reads from his own writing in staccato (and says that if you read Tolkien aloud, you'll find that it sounds "bananas"), and follows his commentary with a self-conscious "yeah?" (as in, "you agree with me . . . right?") -- which is interesting because his writing is fluid and economical, undoubtedly self-assured. See also: hyperaware, hilarious, devastating, beautiful.
The epigraph to Drown is fantastic:
The fact that I
am writing to you
in English
already falsifies what I
wanted to tell you.
My subject:
how to explain to you that I
don't belong to English
though I belong nowhere else.
--Gustavo Pérez Firmat
In general, short stories aren't what I spend my time reading, but these were great. And now I can't wait to read th
The epigraph to Drown is fantastic:
The fact that I
am writing to you
in English
already falsifies what I
wanted to tell you.
My subject:
how to explain to you that I
don't belong to English
though I belong nowhere else.
--Gustavo Pérez Firmat
In general, short stories aren't what I spend my time reading, but these were great. And now I can't wait to read th
