Junot Diaz's characters, particularly his narrator Lucero, use Spanish frequently in this novel. Though I could puzzle out the meanings of many words from context, I ultimately used an online Spanish dictionary during my reading. Diaz's use of Spanish slang makes the characters, and their world, more believable, and I didn't want to miss important aspects of the novel by my almost complete lack of Spanish vocabulary. Once I adjusted to his style and became comfortable with his language, I enjoyed the novel much more. Through his use of Spanish, Diaz forces his readers to engage with the text and confront the discomfort English-speaking readers may feel when facing an unfamiliar language. He places readers in the frustrating space between two languages, the space mentioned in the opening quote.
Did anyone else have this experience? Does this enrich the text or distract you?
So who is this narrator? Can we clarify this detail before we move forward?
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