Review: This Is How You Lose Her

This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I haven't read anything by Junot Diaz before, but apparently a character (or characters?) from this short story collection has shown up in previous Diaz works. That being said, this works very well as a standalone collection. The stories concern love, sex, and identity - specifically, coming of age as a Dominican-born boy living in America. It was a fast read and very accessible, one of those works that is appealing because it channels deep emotions through raw, simple prose, the words anyone could use but don't. It's pretty explicit, so not for everyone, but that explicit honesty is a necessary part of the style. Diaz has taken typical experiences of a particular kind of person - a young, sex-hungry, Dominican man with a penchant for cheating - and distilled those experiences through unassuming prose, resulting in a super-focused, flavorful portrait. It's like he found a precious stone in the rough and with only a few careful cuts turned it into a beautiful jewel.

View all my reviews