Diaz, Junot. This Is How You Lose Her

Pulitzer-winner Diaz’s new collection of short stories is a triumph. As with his earlier collection, Drown, the stories are linked by a common theme. Whereas in Drown the stories were mostly coming-of-age tales of immigrant life, in This Is How You Lose Her they are stories of love, betrayal, and the other constants of adult romantic relationships. Yunior, the loud-mouthed authorial stand-in protagonist Diaz continues to return to, is the narrator for most of these stories, and the landscape will be familiar to anyone well-versed in Diaz’s earlier work.  Stand-outs in the collection include the final story, The Cheater’s Guide to Love; and the only story to feature a female protagonist, Otravida, Otravez.