| Title | : | The Cheaters Guide to Love |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0571355994 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780571355990 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 56 |
| Publication | : | First published July 23, 2012 |
You try every trick in the book to keep her. You write her letters. You drive her to work. You quote Neruda ... You try it all, but one day she will simply sit up in bed and say, No more.
In Yunior, a Dominican-American writer and Harvard professor, Junot D�az has created an irresistibly erratic protagonist, who sweeps you up in the poetic energy of his speech as he rehearses a broad repertoire of bad behaviour.
Originally the climactic tale in the chain-linked This is How You Lose Her, 'The Cheater's Guide to Love' is a superb standalone song of decadence and experience.
Bringing together past, present and future in our ninetieth year, Faber Stories is a celebratory compendium of collectable work.
The Cheaters Guide to Love Reviews
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WELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
last year, i carved out my own short story advent calendar as my project for december, and it was so much fun i decided to do it again this year! so, each day during the month of december, i will be reading a short story and doing the barest minimum of a review because ain't no one got time for that and i'm already so far behind in all the things. however, i will be posting story links in case anyone wants to read the stories themselves and show off how maybe someone could have time for that.
here is a link to the first story in last year's project,
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
which in turn links to the whole monthlong project, in case you wanna do some free short story reading of your own! links to the stories in this year's advent-ure will be at the end of each review.
enjoy, and the happiest of decembers to you all!
DECEMBER 22
Find yourself another girl, Elvis advises. He’s holding his daughter gingerly. Clavo saca clavo.
Nothing saca nothing, you reply. No one will ever be like her.
O.K. But find yourself a girl anyway.
His daughter was born that February. He puts her in your arms. Find yourself a good Dominican girl, he says.
You hold the baby uncertainly. Your ex never wanted kids, but toward the end she made you get a sperm test, just in case she decided to change her mind. You put your lips against the baby’s stomach and blow.
Do they even exist? you ask.
You had one, didn’t you?
That you did.
a man cheats on his fiancée with at least fifty other women, gets caught, is sad, mopes. all in second person, so it's like the story is trying to make me seem like a cad astonished to discover that actions have consequences. but i am no cad. i dunno, the story is fine, but it's hard to be interested in a story about a guy who's douchey without any additional drama. american psycho is about a guy who is douchey who also kills a lot of people. this guy just sulks over a woman who left him because he used women like tissues, wiping his ... nose on them and moving on, with the additional drama being - as he gets older, he experiences minor physical strains and his body changes and fewer women are interested in his schtick. double en-what now? it's a quiet story with an unlikeable character (who is NOT me), so it's hard to have much more than a shallow reading experience. it's fine. period.
read it for yourself here:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
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DECEMBER 31 -
I have never been a fan of insensitive men. I recognize my personal bias: I have always been the super sensitive one, the one who cherishes conversations about feelings and the notion of putting other people first. Though I know my personality comes with setbacks, I find it even harder to stomach characters like Yunior, the protagonist of
"The Cheater's Guide to Love," who cheats on his fiance with 50 other women and perpetuates a cycle of insensitive behavior.
Junot Diaz writes him well though. He gives Yunior a defined voice that grows in a consistent way over the story's six years. Diaz opts for realistic instead of sentimental characterization, providing Yunior with annoying yet believable traits and habits that make him human. Diaz also weaves in issues of racism and classism into this short story in a smooth and respectful way.
Though this story came out in the New Yorker as a standalone piece, it serves as just one of nine intertwined stories in Junot Diaz's book This is How You Lose Her. I feel excited to read Diaz's full work, even if I cannot connect to Yunior on a personal level. -
it's not that i don't feel bad for him, it's just that i think that he deserved quite a bit of what happened to him 🙄
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I’m not sure what possessed me to read anything written by this absolute creep. But what a creepy asshole of a protagonist. Couldn’t finish. Couldn’t pay me to finish.
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"You don’t need the strength to fight another woman; you need the courage to get up and find the door. If it’s your own door, kick him out, and don’t ever let him in again"
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100% latino
I loved it!
I think it was perfection from beginning to end.
Me encantó all the Spanglish.
It was raw, funny and serious all at the same time.
And this is not a cheesy story... It's not the happy ending type... It's a real story, with a hopeful ending, and that was even better. -
I am charmed by this author's writing style. I can't remember the last time I read such effective 2nd person voice. And it's lyrical without being distracting. Fun to read it on the kindle.
Looking forward to reading his books. I'm sure I'll hate them. -
I love Junot Diaz's prose. I always think his character Yunior is kind of a dick, but I like him anyway. "The half life of love is forever," was an amazing line/climax.
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Well, well, if this isn't a consequence to your own actions...
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I was idling away a few minutes one night when the link to this story in the New Yorker came up in my newsfeed. I clicked on it. I read a few sentences. I read more. And more and more. I had been avoiding Diaz for a few years now because I didn't think I wanted to read about a serial cheater. But. Cheating does NOT end well in this story! So cathartic!! This was SO MUCH better than I expected. I think I finally understand all the buzz around Junot Diaz.
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This story were pretty heart rendering actually. A guy cheated on his girlfriend then stumble upon the fallout and labeled as problematic man for he cheated with 50 other girls. But the story gets better as he tried to set his life again when he realised that he actually lost something precious. His path to somewhat atonement was full of trials, in a way the thing he found along the way then slipped along the way too.
I think this is a good story about finding yourself again after the storm. -
I like the erratic pace and the rhythm of this story. And also the cruelty of narration toward its characters is eye-catching. Never giving a moment of rest to the them and their misery. This story has no therapeutic characteristic, it's just a stream of shit happening and no one is safe, except for the ending which is a start. And I like how it ends. But I wonder why this story is written? What sort of pain or itch has directed the writer towards this story? This, I don't get.
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Junot Diaz knows how to create a compelling character. He's likable despite his flaws and despite the fact that, even in the end, he dislikes himself for what he's done. The story feels very human - as if this were your friend talking to you, rather than a story you were reading.
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I liked the fast paced, chaotic sense of this novella and I also liked that it was written in second person - a very tricky thing to keep up even for only 35 pages of prose.
I’m trying to read more short stories to understand the structure and their impact on the reader. I think this had a very clear plot: cheats on fiancée, gets dumped by said fiancée, regrets, depression, chaotic relationships follow and then alone and tries to write his guide to love. Very simple, yet effective and a motif (relationships) everyone can relate to. However, the main protagonist is not likeable and yet I still felt like I was routing for him to come out of this depression - also, to hear how a man suffers from a break up. Usually, they ‘get on with it’ and they’re fine, this novella shows the brutal honesty. It’s raw and it’s real.
Classist and racist moments bring this book down unfortunately, and he isn’t an author I would read more of - quick and easy read, and definitely provided a new way of structuring that I’ve discovered in short fiction (years). -
"You figure that’s as bad as it gets. You figure wrong. During finals a depression rolls over you, so profound you doubt there is a name for it. It feels like you’re being slowly pincered apart, atom by atom."
I remembered that I really liked 'This is How You Lose Her', albeit vaguely. This book of short story reminded me why; Junot Díaz has his way to capture loneliness and vulnerability of a jerk. This story is about Yunior, a guy who cheated and got depressed begging for another chance to his ex. In 5 years he went through many attempts to get over her and some led him to shitty situation. Despite the super explicit, language (many sexist and racist parts), it described a bastard's heartbreak undeniably well. -
It was okay. Didn't really leave an impression and I feel like there are other books in the faber series that are much more memorable and impressive. Nevertheless, It was nicely written and an easy read and it was interesting enough to finish.
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Found very little to like about this. I've heard readers raving on about The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, but I can't see myself bothering with that now. If I can't get a feel for a writer when reading them for the first time - regardless which book of theirs it is, then they are just not for me.
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I am such a fan of Diaz's distinctive voice. This story rendered all the more daring for it's second-person tense. It is bold and rich and ambitious. I read this story a few years ago, discovered via the New Yorker, but just re-discovered and revisited it as I am playing with a piece of my own writing in second person and could use some inspiration and guidance. And I was reminded anew of just how good it is.
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i keep reading this entire piece over and over again. i can't stop. it's absolutely haunting, and it also terrifies me. it makes me wonder how people could be so cruel as to use their loved ones as gripholds as they fumble their self-absorbed ways to self-actualization.
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Bonus points por ser el primer texto literario en el que leo la palabra "toto".
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This was a short story about a man who cheated on his partner, big time. It wasn't until the years that followed that he realised how much he had messed up and the hole she had left in his life.
It was an interesting read, to experience this story from the serial cheater's perspective. My own personal experiences drove me to read this, and although I can't say I was all that thrilled with the ending.. I like an ending I don't expect! -
Interesting but struggled to get to the end of it.
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“depression rolls over you, so profound you doubt there is a name for it. It feels like you’re being slowly pincered apart, atom by atom.”
I usually love the F&F short stories because i think all the writers they choose to showcase are outstanding at their craft. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case with this book, I think this would’ve been better as a full length novel with fleshed out characters with complex feelings and histories, rather than a short story. I found the writing tedious and annoying rather than impactful. -
Eat, cheat, love: A man's guide to cheating, getting caught, separating, repenting, trying to win back the lost love, and fucking everything up in between.
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It was a fine and at times entertaining read, not sure there was more. Also, I'm gonna leave this box largely blank before I say something offensive about men.
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Mijn hemel, wat moet het vermoeiend zijn om een scheve schaats te rijden.
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God i hate men.
