This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz

Book Description:

On a beach in the Dominican Republic, a doomed relationship flounders. In the heat of a hospital laundry room in New Jersey, a woman does her lover’s washing and thinks about his wife. In Boston, a man buys his love child, his only son, a first baseball bat and glove. At the heart of these stories is the irrepressible, irresistible Yunior, a young hardhead whose longing for love is equaled only by his recklessness--and by the extraordinary women he loves and loses: artistic Alma; the aging Miss Lora; Magdalena, who thinks all Dominican men are cheaters; and the love of his life, whose heartbreak ultimately becomes his own. In prose that is endlessly energetic, inventive, tender, and funny, the stories in This Is How You Lose Her lay bare the infinite longing and inevitable weakness of the human heart. They remind us that passion always triumphs over experience, and that “the half-life of love is forever.”

 Christina's BookReview

“Then you look at her and smile a smile your dissembling face will remember until the day you die. Baby, you say, baby, this is part of my novel.

This is how you lose her.”

RECAP:

Coming to the US from the Dominican Republic Yunior recounts his transition in the states and the heartbreaks that follow him as we grows up. He will share with us the loves and loses of Alma, Miss Lora, Magdelena, Nilda and others that impacted his life one way or another.  Through his recklessness Yunior shares with us the lessons he learns and lays bear the real facts about "losing someone you lose because of your recklessness". 

MY TAKE:

Okay so I had to read this as a book club read at work and have to say that because of the synopsis I was kind of looking forward to it. When I finally got to read it I could not put the book down. 

We start off the book with Yunior's relationship with Magdelena. Yunior lets the readers know right away that Magdelena believes that all Dominican men are cheaters. That one sentence sets the stage for the entire book. Yunior flashes from past to present and introduces us to the women in his life and his infidelity. And although I wanted to dislike Yunior and smack him upside his head it was hard. There were times where i felt bad for him and his suffering. When you shouldn't. He is a cheat and the cycle continues throughout the book. The last story in this book shows us that even though he is the way he is there is one women that he loved but betrayed as well. The women's name is never mentioned but you see the impact that she had in his life.

We also learn about his family life and you quickly see that Yunior hasn't had the best influences in life. With a father that is strict and detached, a brother who runs through women and mistreats him, and a mother who stays quiet, Yunior doesn't know anything else while growing up. 

I will not get into the stereotyping in this book because it would not suede you one way or the other. I will say that I have grown up around Dominican's so reading this book I was just laughing at the truth in most things and the language that was used.

I liked the book. I liked the realism behind it and you could actually hear the authors voice in it. Throughout the  book I felt like I was reading someones real life story. And that in itself makes this book wonderful. 

If you want romance this probably isn't your book. But if you want to read about the relationships you will like it.

I say BUY or BORROW it. READ it. ENJOY it.

HAPPY READING!