Reviews

Drown by Junot Díaz

gadicohen93's review against another edition

5.0

Junot is a god. His words snap off the page. Like the description says, he's "unsentimental"--he doesn't have to find a larger meaning to all the stories and the moments, we do. Papi as a character is so intense and I had so much hatred directed toward him. He really fueled the book, I thought--was what messed up Yunior's life in a way.

In some ways, I remember being disappointed with Oscar Wao for the same reason I was disappointed with Drown--there was no actual meaning that I could pick up. As personal and close as I got to the narration, I still felt removed from the significance of the stories. The only place where I got some meaning, retrieved some emotional depth, was at the very very ending, the last two or three pages.

Amazing writing.

jane_lf5555's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

tennilles's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

hchorey's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

jess_mango's review against another edition

4.0

A collection of gritty short stories about young Dominican men's experiences coming of age in both the Dominican Republic, New Jersey and New York. The tales' immigrant experiences include absent fathers, drug-use, interracial dating, and shoplifting.

Diaz's voice is passionate and captivating. I will definitely be checking out his recently released novel.

mrbear's review against another edition

3.0

I liked this book slightly more than his other book, mostly because I thought the short story format was better for the story he was trying to convey. I still found that his writing style was a little bit over dramatized and occasionally the stories were frustrating to read. Again, I'd recommend it to people who speak spanish more than I would to people who don't, though he uses less "spanish at critical moments" in this book than he does in Oscar Wao.

alex_watkins's review against another edition

4.0

After really loving his Pulitzer prize winning follow-up, I went to read this one. There are some great stories in here, and just like most short story collections some weaker ones. I think my main complaint was that it didn't have the twist on the immigrant story that Wao has. I could never tell if the stories were all following the same people or not, most were variations on the immigrant theme. My favorite story was the titular Drown which did twist up the story in a surprising way, or at least surprising if you don't know what pato means and have to look it up halfway through the story after realizing its important.

strawbecky113's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

lila_loves_nici's review against another edition

dark informative reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

hnksmt's review against another edition

funny hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0