Yunior returns in latest Diaz novel This Is How You Lose Her

Yunior, the entertaining Junot Diaz character, makes a return in This is How You Lose Her.

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This Is How You Lose Her
Junot Diaz
Riverhead Hardcover

Junot Diaz's latest work may be packaged as a collection of short stories new and old, but in reality it is essentially a sequel to his Pulitzer Prize-winning debut, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

Diaz's winning character, the Dominican-American Yunior, returns and his narrated tales act as a manual on how to not treat a lady.

In The Sun, the Moon, the Stars, Yunior regretfully details cheating on his wholesome girlfriend Magda for the more vivacious Cassandra, and has been trying - pathetically so - to get back in Magda's good books.

In Flaca, Yunior digs through memories of his former flame Veronica, while the tale of his mature crush Miss Lora acts a Dominican take on Mrs Robinson.

This is How You Lose Her is not simply a collection of macho hits and misses, Diaz uses each story to describe a different aspect of the Dominican-American experience. The underlying theme of immigration, family and fitting in - whether in love or society - gives these brawny tales some heart.

You empathise with Yunior, no matter how disagreeable he is.