by Junot Diaz
Some books read quickly. They suck me in and three hours later I'm reading the last page while realizing I've lost track of a whole evening. I've yet to figure out exactly what quality a book has to have for that to happen. Is it the plot? or the characters? use of language? It's a mystery.
On the surface This Is How You Lose Her is a book that I should hate. The protagonist, Yunior, is a serial cheater. The first thing he tells the reader is, "I'm not a bad guy." The defensiveness of this statement speaks on a whole other level. It's the plaintive cry of a character afraid to look at himself too closely in the mirror and I think everyone has felt that at some point. It's seductive. It's like biting down on a sore tooth. It hurts and I know I shouldn't do it, but I find myself biting down on it over and over again.
Diaz hops around from point to point in Yunior's life in little vignettes. Some are about the various women in his life, but some are about his fatally sick brother or his immigrant mother and father. The shape of his life comes into focus and reveals a tragic figure as much a victim as a predator but yet always ultimately the author of his own troubles.
I can't say that I truly liked This is How You Lose Her, but it was a powerful book, well crafted, and elegantly written. It was worth my lost evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment