I have a complicated love-hate relationship with this book. I thought I'd hate it because the graphic sexual objectification of women, the bad language, including the F-word, throws me off. I think it's unecessary and takes away from the great story that it is.

Having said that, I love the complexity of the novel and the great writing that is there when it's not covered by the dirty language, and I love its many themes.

Moreover, I loved that I was able to use it in my class for one of my essays in comparison with Shakespeare's The Tempest. Having to think for the assignments we had in that class and work on that essay, it was challenging, but made me love Diaz's novel, though I hate the language he uses, and made me love The Tempest even more.

I would have never thought to compare a Shakespeare play with a contemporary novel and see all the complexities in both, so I'm very glad to be at the university working on my degree. This is why I haven't been posting more readings. There was no time for my personal reading, but the books I normally read overlap with the reading we do in my classes, so there is no loss, but gain.