Fair warning up front, this post is going to mention The New Yorker and NPR. So get your “pretending to barf” gesticulations out of the way now.
Okay.
So, Junot Diaz–this guy is having quite a year. He won a MacArthur Genius Grant–that’s $500K he can spend on whatever he pleases, just for being super smart and teaching us all Dominican slang, much of it centered around butts. He also released This Is How You Lose Her, a short story collection that’s mostly about dudes stepping out on their ladies and screwing everything up. And butts.
This is How You Lose her was recently excerpted in The New Yorker (boom, pay wall!). I liked the short they chose, and I bought the book. And now I’m kind of struggling to get through it. I loved Diaz’s The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao–found it heartbreaking and hilarious and full of amazing sci-fi nerdery. It won a Pullitzer, nbd. I like This is How You Lose Her okay, but I’m more interested to see what happens with Monstro–that’s the sci-fi/horror/zombie titan apocalypse novel Diaz is or isn’t working on, depending on who’s asking in which interview. It was also recently excerpted in The New Yorker (pay wall, y’all!).
Here’s a good interview with Diaz in Wired where he discusses all of the above:
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/10/geeks-guide-junot-diaz/
And here’s a great Junot Diaz NPR Fresh Air interview with your host…Terry Gross. Well actually it starts with Dave Davies on the wheels of steel, and then he cuts to the pre-recorded interview. I mean…is Terry Gross ever not on vacation? What’s up, Terry Gross? Can I get some of that Paid Time Off, girl?
http://www.npr.org/2012/10/05/162379322/interview-macarthur-genius-junot-diaz
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