Drown

De: Junot Díaz

Narrado por: Jonathan Davis

A collection of eleven stories by a young writer evoke his hard-fought youth in the barrios of the Dominican Republic and the bleak urban landscapes of New Jersey, combining a journalist's dispassionate eye with an ear for poetry.

"This stunning collection of stories offers an unsentimental glimpse of life among the immigrants from the Dominican Republic--and other front-line reports on the ambivalent promise of the American dream--by an eloquent and original writer who describes more than physical dislocation in conveying the price that is paid for leaving culture and homeland behind." --San Francisco Chronicle.

Junot Diaz's stories are as vibrant, tough, unexotic, and beautiful as their settings - Santa Domingo, Dominican Neuva York, the immigrant neighborhoods of industrial New Jersey with their gorgeously polluted skyscapes. Places and voices new to our literature yet classically American: coming-of-age stories full of wild humor, intelligence, rage, and piercing tenderness. And this is just the beginning. Diaz is going to be a giant of American prose. --Francisco Goldman

Ever since Diaz began publishing short stories in venues as prestigious as The New Yorker, he has been touted as a major new talent, and his debut collection affirms this claim. Born and raised in Santo Domingo, Diaz uses the contrast between his island homeland and life in New York City and New Jersey as a fulcrum for his trenchant tales. His young male narrators are teetering into precarious adolescence. For these sons of harsh or absent fathers and bone-weary, stoic mothers, life is an unrelenting hustle. In Santo Domingo, they are sent to stay with relatives when the food runs out at home; in the States, shoplifting and drugdealing supply material necessities and a bit of a thrill in an otherwise exhausting and frustrating existence. There is little affection, sex is destructive, conversation strained, and even the brilliant beauty of a sunset is tainted, its colors the product of pollutants. Keep your eye on Diaz; his first novel is on the way. --Booklist

©2007 Junot Diaz; (P)2007 Penguin Audio, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc.

Sometimes repetative, always misogynistic

Junot Diaz is a talented writer with a lot of powerful stories to tell. His writing is best when he writes from the heart, which is about half of the stories. The other half feel distant and false--the fake "poor/urban" accent the narrator takes on in some stories only makes it worse. All his stories are riddled with misogyny, not just in his characters but in his own narration. All in all, worth reading but often frustrating.

Latino literature at its best!

the collection of short stories can be viewed as an overall story of the narrator in different time periods OR short stories that intertwine with each other in a context of living in a Dominican community. Junot's use of not translating or even italicizing the Spanish words is referenced in the beginning quote from Gustavo Perez Firmat. If you are monolingual and are interested in the US Latino experience, Diaz poignantly gives you an East Coast view. Be sure to have google translator handy if you want to get a better understanding of the Spanish words used in the stories. This is what makes Latino literature unique!!!!

A new favorite collection of stories

‘Drown’ is not only a new favorite story collection, but also a favorite among books period. The performance is also great.

Great book!

This book has a lot of layers and is always interesting. Id recommend it to anyone!

Such an Influential Work

A story collection that makes you read the rest of literature a little better due to the clear influence that it has had on many an author.