Drown – Junot Diaz

Drown, in my opinion, was a fascinating read. Overall, the stories are very dispassionate and irregular, as many questions go unanswered, or are left for the reader to figure out. For example, Yunior’s poverty is something to feel sympathetic about, but it is left to the readers to feel this, rather than the book illustrating it. Yunior reflects, “We were poor. The only way we could have been poorer was to have lived in the campo or to have been Haitian immigrants”. Such lines, added to the long hours that his mother had to work at the chocolate factory, as the father had left them when he was four, is supposed to bring some sympathy towards the character. Instead, it is told in such dispassionate manners, that the reader has to figure these things out.

Other irregularity in the book include questions such as, are the chapters actually related to each other, or are they completely irrelevant and independent stories? Is there any particular motive behind not mentioning Rafa (Yunior’s brother) again in the book? Is Ysrael the actual protagonist in the story?

Whether living in Dominican Republic, or in the US, the book is revolved around extreme poverty, and characters who deal with such things, amongst several emotional sufferings. Even though these sufferings, the only character who comes out as positive is Ysrael, which seems remarkable. His life includes having a face (or no face) that was eaten by a pig, and having to endure constant abuse from other children. He has workout every day, so as to keep fit when running away from other abusers. He tries to pick up coins (when drunken people spill them) through “vomit and piss”. Despite these sufferings, he seems like the most positive character in the book. This seems surprising, but I believe Diaz is portraying that this is the only character who is “afloat”. The mother for example, is in the US, works as a house cleaner, but has been completely shocked at coming to the US, and remains mostly quiet. “She's so quiet that most of the time I'm startled to find her in the apartment. . . . She has discovered the secret to silence, pouring cafe without a splash, walking between rooms as if gliding on a cushion of felt, crying without a sound.” In comparison to Ysrael, the mother is slowly drowning in her own grief, much like the rest of the book’s characters.

Overall, I felt the book was excellent, especially given the detailed description of all its multiple dimensions, including poverty, torn-apart families and individuals, small humor (How to date a...), Dominican American street culture, and much more.