Book Review: This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz

This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz

(Goodreads)

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.

I've been waiting so long to read this book! I remember seeing it at a Barnes and Nobles and the name 'Diaz' making me do a double take; it's not often that I see a Latino-sounding name while browsing the popular sections. I loved the cover and the title but I didn't get it at the time for some reason or another. Fast forward a couple of years and I devoured it in a handful of hours and a bus ride to work. It's hard to say that This Is How You Lose Her (TIHYLH? lol) either met, surpassed, or underwhelmed my expectations because I'm not quite sure what I expected. 

Through a collection of short stories, I met Yunior at various stages of his life. Each of them found him in a beautiful relationship (I'm using the word 'beautiful' loosely) that didn't work out for some reason or another. I wouldn't say they're epic romances that anyone would aspire to be in, they're definitely not #goals. But Diaz' way with words puts you right in the middle of Yunior's emotions and boy does he have plenty of them. 

Every other sentence is memorable and it's no wonder I've seen plenty of TIHYLH quotes running through my tumblr dashboard, they capture that one moment of emotion like no other. Diaz sure has a way with words. Although there's plenty of Spanish in this book, it didn't stop my non-Spanish speaking friend from understanding with the help of context clues. However, I did find myself doing a handful of google searches for some slang but nothing that would keep you from understanding.

I feel like I could write multiple essays on this novel, from the mindset of a cheating man, sexualization of women of color, repercussions from machismo upbringings, and so many more college worthy topics; this book packs a lot in. While I related to it and Yunior's experiences as an immigrant person of color, I didn't fall in love with This Is How You Lose Her. I don't feel enough towards Yunior. I didn't hate him and I didn't like him; I'm ambivalent and I wish Diaz did something more to push me in either direction. 

That isn't to say I wouldn't recommend this book because it's extremely vivid and full of life even when life isn't full of anything.

Memorable Quote(s)

"And that's when I know it's over. As soon as you start thinking about the beginning, it's the end." (24) 

"I've always believed that the universe invented the color red solely for Latinas." (21) 

"This is what I know: people's hopes go on forever." (74) 

"Dude had lost eighty pounds to the chemo, looked like a break dancing ghoul (my brother was the last motherfucker in the jerz to give up his tracksuit and rope chain), had a back laced with spinal-tap scars, but his swagger was more or less where it had been before the illness: a hundred percent loco." (95)