This Is How You Lose Her

Dominican born, New Jersey raised Yunior grows up under the thumb of his mother and in the shadow of is older brother Rafa, a shameless ladies’ man. As Yunior gets older, he tries to avoid becoming a “sucio” (pig) like his brother and their absent, philandering father. But a string of failed relationships suggests that it may be his destiny.

Junot Diaz first made a name for himself with his debut story collection Drown. That was also the book that introduced Yunior, his autobiographical proxy. After branching out into novel territory, 2012’s This Is How You Lose Her marks a return to his short story roots. But those who enjoyed The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao’s sprawling narrative and copious (and often hilarious) footnotes needn’t fear: there’s plenty to love in this anthology.

Diaz’s calling card has always been his idiosyncratic style: an odd mixture of lyrical erudition, naturalistic dialogue, and English and Spanish slang that seizes readers by the throat and forces them to pay attention. You might suspect that at 44, the author has mellowed with age, but you’d be wrong. The prose in his latest work is as fresh as ever, and though the patois will confound non-Spanish speakers at time, it creates an air of absolute authorial authenticity. This isn’t the second-hand posturing of a middle-aged academic; this is real, son.

Diaz extends this no holds barred honesty to his characterization, even (or perhaps especially) those characters based on his family members. He refuses to pull any punches in depicting his older brother as a reckless, skirt-chasing, misogynistic asshole despite the fact that Rafa is a.) dying through much of the narrative and b.) probably sorely missed. Likewise, though Yunior is engendered with a certain amount of sympathy, he is still a cheater and something of an opportunist.

Like any story collection, This Is How You Lose Her fluctuates in quality, but there are no duds here. Even the weakest pieces – one written in the second person, one written with a female narrator – are still worthwhile as changes of pace. The strongest offering is arguably the last story, The Cheater’s Guide to Love, in which several years of relationship agonies are played out across the page.

Despite all its high points, This Is How You Lose Her is still not the author’s best work. It lacks the sympathy of Drown and the weightiness of Wao. But those who get caught up in the superficiality of the plot (a character based on the author tries to pick up chicks) or the novelty of the style and dismiss it as self-indulgent naval-gazing are missing a lot that is working beneath the surface here. Assimilation, masculinity, family dynamics, cultural norms, and faith are all explored incisively. Not bad for a book whose title only suggests lost love.

8.5/10