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Description edit
In prose that is endlessly energetic, inventive, tender, and funny, the stories in This Is How You Lose Her lay bare the infinite longing and inevitable weakness of the human heart.
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Summary edit
On a beach in Santo Domingo, 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... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
Characters edit
- Adrián: Laura's son
- Magdalena (Magda): Yunior's girfriend
- Claribel: One of Magda's friends
- Cassandra: The woman Yunior had an affair with while dating Magda
- Yunior: Narrator
- Pura Adames: Rafa's wife.
- Lucy: Dominicana Yunior met at Casa De Campo
- Vice President: Yunior met at the Club Casique Bar at Casa de Campo
- Bárbaro: Yunior met at the Club Casique Bar at Casa de Campo, The Vice President's bodygard
- Rupert: Cassandra's boyfriend
- Nilda: Rafa's (Yunior oldesr brother) girlfriend. A Dominicana who ran away from home and lived in a communal house
- Rafael (Rafa) Urbano: Yunior's older brother. Died from cancer
- José Negrón (Joe Black): Attended Yunior's class and had the hots for Nilda
- Mami: Yunior's mother
- Ramón: Yunior's father
- Laxmi: Freshman at Rutgers. Yunior is having an affair with her.
- Ana Iris: Yunior's mother roommate
- Yasmin: Narrator, Ramón's lover
- Virta: Ramón's wife
- Héctor: Ramon's co-worker
- Samantha: New worker at Hospital where Yasmin works.
- Manolo: Samantha's son
- Marisol: Yasmin's roommate
- Enriquillo: Ramón's dead son
- Víctor: Ramón's son
- Verónica Hardrada (Flaca): Protagonist of "Flaca" short story. It's narrated in the second person
- Gladys: Yunior's mother's neighbor. Part of the prayer group
- Doña Rosie: Yunior's mother's upstairs neighbor. Part of the prayer group
- Tammy Franco: Rafa's ex-girlfriend. Stood by Rafa until his death
- Laura: Yunior's girlfriend
- Néstor: Pura's son from another encounter
- Rubio: Puerto Rican barber
- Eric: Neighbor in Invierno
- Elaine: Neighbor on Invierno. Eric's blanquita sister.
- Miguel: Papi's friend from work
- Paloma: Another of Yunior's many girlfriends. He was dating her when he hooks up with Miss Lora
- Miss Lora: 1985, Yunior is 16. He was dating Paloma when he hooks up with this woman. She was his around the corner neighbor and a teacher at Seyreville High School. Much older
- Mrs. del Orbe: Another of Yunior's neighbors in Miss Lora. She was the hottest in the neighborhood
- Mr. Everson: Science teacher at Yunior's high school who gets involved with Ms. Lora.
- Elvis (El) Xavier: One of Yunior's best friends. Belonged to the group Yunior called: "one of the boys"
- Darnell: One of Yunior's best friends. Belonged to the group Yunior called: "one of the boys"
- Arlenny: One of Yunior's best friends. She belonged to the group Yunior called: "one of the boys"
- Noemí: Yunior's rebound girlfriend
- Elvis Xavier, Jr.: Elvis' presumed son
- Pura Mierda: Add a description of this character.
- Adrian
- Noemi
- Alma
- Justin
Quotes edit
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“Only a bitch of color comes to Harvard to get pregnant. White women don't do that. Asian women don't do that. Only fucking black and Latina women. Why go to all the trouble to get into Harvard just to get knocked up? You could have stayed on the block and done that shit.”
Yunior -
“our whole country, which you never think of until it's gone, which you never love until you're no longer there.”
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“Ana Iries once asked me if I loved him and I told her about the lighs in my old home in the capital, how they flickered and you never knew if they would go out or not. You put down your things and you waited and couldn't do anything really until the lights decided. This, I told her, is how I feel.”
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“She'd never been big on church before, but as soon as we landed on cancer planet she went so over-the-top Jesucristo that I think she would have nailed herself to a cross if she'd had one handy.”
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“her expressions narrowed until all that remained was a tight, guarded smile that seemed to drift across the room the way a shadow drifts slowly across a wall.”
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“The walk to your apartment is some Bataan-type shit.”
Setting & Locations edit
First Sentence edit
I'm not a bad guy.
Table of Contents edit
The Sun, The Moon, The Stars
Nilda
Alma
Otravida, Otravez
Flaca
The Pura Principle
Invierno
Miss Lora
The Cheater's Guide to Love
Glossary edit
- Dougla: Product of African and Indian decent
- Cuero: Dominican for slut
- Tigueros: Bad boys with a lot of swag
- zángano.: Mild slur, along the lines of dumbass or schmuck.
- vaina.: Stuff, crap, thingamabob
- tutumpotes: Member of the old ruling famillies
- chupabarrio: In this case, a corrupt neighborhood politician
Series & Lists edit
This book is in Good Reading: Best Books of 2012. (authoritative list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- Junot Díaz (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Country: USA
Publication Date: September 11, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-59448-736-1
Page Count: 213
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Country: USA
Publication Date: September 11, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-59448-736-1
Page Count: 213
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: PS3554 I259 T48 2012
- Dewey: 813.54
Subjects edit
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