by Junot Díaz
First published 2012
Yunior stands on a Dominican beach watching his relationship crumble. The young man's heart pulls him from one woman to another, but his reckless choices destroy what he most wants to keep. In New Jersey, he thinks of a woman washing his clothes while considering her lover's wife. In Boston, he buys his son a baseball glove, trying to build something lasting. Yunior loves deeply and loses repeatedly. Artistic Alma slips away. The older Miss Lora ages beyond his reach. Magdalena believes all Dominican men cheat, and Yunior proves her right. The woman he loves most breaks his heart by leaving, and her pain becomes his own. These stories follow Yunior's pattern of longing and self-sabotage. His passion overwhelms his experience every time. Love's aftermath lingers long after the relationships end.
Genres: romance, literary-fiction, contemporary-romance, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Boston, Dominican Republic, New Jersey
Period: 21st-century
217 pages · Hardcover · Riverhead Books
Content warnings: sexual-content