Latino Rythm

Saw this beautiful guitar celebrating our Latin American nations in the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida. It's a guitar shaped hotel!

You must read Drown, by Junot Diaz

Drown is a masterpiece of urban American Latino literature. It is a book of short stories told with a raw honesty and grit, by sympathetic characters. The people in his stories are not good or bad; they are flawed but not crewel. The book is a window into the lives of people where sadness is common place. Critics love the story entitled, How to date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie which is brilliantly funny. My favorite was Negocios, a powerful story narrated by a boy who’s father has basically abandoned his family to go to America. It is a story full of universal immigrant themes of hope and despair. The father is like almost all of Diaz’s characters, someone you can’t love because he’s a terrible father, but someone you can’t hate either.  

 A warning to those that do not speak Spanish. Mr. Diaz’s writing is superb, but you might find some of his prose clumsy to read. Spanish words appear with no warning or explanation. Even those who speak Spanish should have some knowledge of Caribbean Spanish or at least New Jersey Spanglish. Non-Spanish speakers will have to wonder what some of his best words mean, or use a dictionary. The story Drown was a little confusing at times. However, when a story works, it works beautifully and that is why  Mr. Diaz is one of the best writers in America. He is daring and writes fearlessly. In the end you close his book feeling satisfied, and like you have just read a great piece of writing.