Drown By Juno Diaz
The 10 tales in this intense debut collection plunge us into the emotional lives of people redefining their American identity. Narrated by adolescent Dominican males living in the struggling communities of the Dominican Republic, New York and New Jersey, these stories chronicle their outwardly cool but inwardly anguished attempts to recreate themselves in the midst of eroding family structures and their own burgeoning sexuality. The best pieces, such as "Aguantando" (to endure), "Negocios," "Edison, NJ" and the title story, portray young people waiting for transformation, waiting to belong. Their worlds generally consist of absent fathers, silent mothers and friends of questionable principles and morals. Diaz's restrained prose reveals their hopes only by implication. It's a style suited to these characters, who long for love but display little affection toward each other. Still, the author's compassion glides just below the surface, occasionally emerging in poetic passages of controlled lyricism, lending these stories a lasting resonance.
Discussion Mee9ting: Wednesday October 15th 6pm.
Discussion leader/host: Amy
Location: Piece Brewery & Pizzeria (1927 W. North Ave)
2 comments:
He encontrado u articulo sobre Junot Diaz y un dato interesante acerca de su obra "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao"
"En alguna entrevista aseguró que el nombre de su personaje, Oscar Wao, no es otra cosa que la transcripción al español de la forma como los dominicanos pronuncia el nombre del famoso escritor Oscar Wilde."
http://bogota.vive.in/libros/articulos/octubre2008/ARTICULO-WEB-NOTA_INTERIOR_VIVEIN-4608394.html
there is an episode of This American Life where Junot Diaz reads from the book Drown. it's in the archive from something like 1999. it's really good. i read the story, but it changed when i heard Junot reading it on the air. you can go to thisamericanlife.org and look it up if you're interested, it's worth it.
- Diana
Post a Comment