By: Junot Díaz Publisher: Riverhead Trade Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Riverhead Trade Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 224 Publication Date: July 01, 1997
Amazon.com: With ten stories that move from the barrios of the Dominican Republic to the struggling urban communities of New Jersey, Junot Diaz makes his remarkable debut. Diaz's work is unflinching and strong, and these stories crackle with an electric sense of discovery. Diaz evokes a world in which fathers are gone, mothers fight with grim determination for their families and themselves, and the next generation inherits the casual cruelty, devestating ambivalence, and knowing humor of lives circumscribed by poverty and uncertainty. In Drown, Diaz has harnessed the rhythms of anger and release, frustration and joy, to indelible effect.
Carolos Mencia? This book came highly recommended by an avid reader and author whom I greatly respect. We share the same passion for Tim O'Brien, Kurt Vonnegut, Chuck Palahniuk, Jack Kerouac, etc etc...
This is the worst thing I've ever read in my life. This "honest" "boldness" comes off cheesy and repetitive. This reads like Carlos Mencia re-writing John Leguizamo's first HBO special. This is infuriatingly bad.
I can't believe this drivel has such great reviews! I also don't see how sprinkling Spanish words among 5 sentences is anything creative or honest. There is no intelligence behind these words - just a regular story.
I get it - he had a tough life. Wow. Refreshing.
I can see him sitting down one night "Ay esse... I had a tough layhf, lemme write about eeeeeet"
Shut up.
Well written but not engaging to me Although I greatly enjoyed The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, I was never able to get excited about Drown. It may be due to the fact that the main characters were so unsympathetic - in several instances their actions made we want to shout at them in anger and frustration. The book is well written, but somehow failed to draw me in as a reader.
Great Debut For a first published work this is a wonderful collection of short fiction. It sometimes feels as though multiculturism is a literary fad as there are so many popular books released with collections of American fiction from the new arrival perspective. Much of it is good, Diaz is very good. These stories describing youthful experiences in both the Dominican Republic and urban New Jersey resonate with atmosphere and character. They are not uniformly of the best quality. There are times when the stories feel less than fully developed but overall Diaz displays a great feel for setting and writes about people that draws the reader into their world , just possibly wishing there was more. Look forward to reading his novel.
Loved IT!!!! I loved this book and actually re-purchased it in the spanish translation as a gift for a co-worker. It is poignant and thoughtful and sincere and just a great read. It can be read from first to last page, but nothing is lost jumping around from one short to another.
KESinNYC I first heard of Mr. Junot Diaz from an article in Latina Magazine. I picked up his first book and wished I had read it sooner. A great and wonderful book. The reviewer who criticized it seems to want to down grade a popular book. This is no fade. Mr Diaz writes of humans in their greatest potential and cruelest reality, but give us a sense of self and humanism. The people, the places, the stories, he knows how to capture. He is a great writer. It may be cliche, but I could not put this book down; no matter how busy I was. I looked forward to his new release and his new novel too, does not disappoint. It is yet another reminder of why Mr. Junot Diaz is one of our great writers of our present time.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
