Drown

By: Junot Diaz

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

With 10 stories that move from the barrios of the Dominican Republic to the struggling urban communities of New Jersey, Junot Diaz makes his remarkable debut. Diaz's work is unflinching and strong, and these stories crackle with an electric sense of discovery. He evokes a world in which fathers are gone, mothers fight with grim determination for their families and themselves, and the next generation inherits the casual cruelty, devastating ambivalence, and knowing humor of lives circumscribed by poverty and uncertainty. In Drown, Diaz has harnessed the rhythms of anger and release, frustration and joy, to indelible effect.©2007 Junot Diaz (P)2007 Penguin Audio, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc.

Critic reviews

"Remarkable.” (Entertainment Weekly)

“Talent this big will always make noise…. [The ten stories in Drown] vividly evoke Diaz's hardscrabble youth in the Dominican Republic and New Jersey, where ‘our community was separated from all the other communities by a six-lane highway and the dump.’ Diaz has the dispassionate eye of a journalist and the tongue of a poet…” (Newsweek)

“Graceful and raw and painful and smart…His prose is sensible poetry that moves like an interesting conversation…The pages turn and all of a sudden you’re done and you want more.” (The Boston Globe)

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.

True Story?

This book details the trials and tribulations of immigrants from the Dominican Republic. Life is never easy, and they just barely manage to keep noses above water. It also characterizes really terrible behavior of men to their women. The culture they bring with them is truly misogynous; it will not be enjoyable for women to read.
There does not seem to be any plot, other than that of daily survival.

Jumbled mess

This book was in dreadful need of a good editor and it didn't find one. It uses Spanish words not familiar to many, without explanation, the plot shifts arbitrarily and the narratives are contradictory from one chapter to the next. It has some redeeming qualities as a sociocultural exploration but i can't recommend it.

Not My Type of Book

To Live It Is To Experience It. This type of behavior and story exist across all races and culture.