I approached Drown, a collection of short stories by a young Dominican-American author Junot Diaz, somewhat apprehensively. At first glance, it felt far too detached from what I consider immediately interesting and relevant. Why would a Pole with a soft spot for writing in English be bothered by stories of Dominican immigrants and first-generation US citizens of Dominican descent?
Well, first of all, because they are superbly written. There is loads of joy to be derived from this prose as it recalls, with warmth and humour, incidents from formative years, either in the Dominican Republic or on the East Coast of the United States. Technically, characters are unrelated from piece to piece, but it would not be difficult to pull a common thread across all the stories. Without fail, they feature patently readable language that is capable of having you firmly rooted in the atmosphere, whether it is of a drug-dealing New York, a shop-lifting New Jersey suburbia or of Santo Domingo seen from the eyes of a child. Some pieces are clearly a marvel, making you collapse with laughter or whole-heartedly empathize as they describe trials and tribulations of Dominicans seeking fortune in the US or on their native Hispaniola.
The second massive reason for taking up this collection is fascinating, full-bloodied stroytelling that, intriguingly, centers on everyday life and its quirky turns. "Ysreal", which opens the book, is about the fascination with a sick boy in the neighbourhood whose aura of mysery and inaccessibility propels two young brothers to set up an ambush. Their intention is to tear off the boy's mask and see the damage to his face that keeps him so isolated, but in the end they go as far as brutally harassing poor Ysreal. Another great story is a how-to guide called "How to Date a Brownrigl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl or Halfie", which hilariously chronicles adventures of one badly off Dominican-American teenager with his female peers. For me, the culmination of the collection came in "Negacios", which describes the journey Ramon, the narrator's father, had to endure in order to first get to the US, then clamber his way up and, after years of meandering through, bring this wife and two boys over. With sensitivity and wit, it features determination, hard work, lying, confusion and good and bad luck that go in large amounts into an immigrant's road to citizenship and betterment.
Some language to remember:
. a belt or shoelace can blister your skin,
. to pluck a chicken,
. to fart around = be lazy, procrastinate,
. She's out of the picture completely,
. to scare the hell out of sb,
. a cardinal rule,
. a smokehouse = a curing house,
. to put a hand in the air,
. a nub = a knob, a protruberance,
. a ballpark figure = an approximate number,
. lottery slips,
. some stupid infraction,
. tendon-ripping labour,
. sugarcane = trzcina cukrowa,
. Push-ups kept him kicking ass,
. to push oneself through sit-ups and push-ups,
. resplendent white shirt = brillinat / splendid,
. sartorial = related to tailoring (krawiecki)
. to be weaned on = być wychowanym na,
. to touch a finger to your beret,
. to be sick but able to work through it,
. a weight bench,
. La Noche Buena (= Christmas Eve)
. to attempt a similar stunt,
. to douse = to plunge into liquid (= zanurzać, oblewać)
No comments:
Post a Comment