I read Junot Diaz in reverse, starting with This is How You Lose Her, then The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and finishing this week with Drown, a moving collection of interwoven stories spanning two generations of Dominican immigrants both back home and in the United States. It's the birth of Yunior and Rafa, two brothers who are felt through all of Diaz's work, and they're conception here is certainly grabbing. From the second Rafa and Yunior decide to pull the mask off the faceless boy through to Yunior's rules for dating, the collection works as a portrait of a boy turned man, and one that's, well, not always entirely flattering.
Drown's not my favourite of Diaz's work. It doesn't have the worldliness or history of the two books that come after this, but it's still an affecting work of fiction, and really is the foundation for what Oscar Wao and This is How You Lose Her cement.
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