This is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz

Title: This is How You Lose Her

Author: Junot Diaz
Read by: Junot Diaz
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Length: Approximately 5 hours (5 CDs)
Source: Penguin Audio Review Copy

This is How you Lose Her is the first book I’ve read (or listened to) by Junot Diaz, but it will not be my last. This is How you Lose her was a brilliant series of short stories, mostly involving Yunior and his ill-fated love life.

If I would have read this book before I was married, I might have given up in despair. Most of the reason Yunior loses his loves is because he is a very unfaithful man and his girlfriends invariably find out. What brings this beyond a sad tale of a sad man that can’t keep it in his pants is the background story of Yunior. It was interesting how he came to America as a youngster and lived in the shadow of his older brother. As he older brother wasted away from cancer, Yunior tried to find meaning in life and love. By the end, Yunior has come a long way from his youth as an immigrant, but he still has not found the true meaning of love. One quote I loved from the book is “the half-life of love is forever.”

Overall, I enjoyed the story of Yunior. While he was not always a character I could relate to or even like, he had a compelling story full of vivid details of life as a Dominican immigrant. I was fascinated. Author Junot Diaz read the story himself and I now identify his voice completely as Yunior.

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

Title: Shadow of Night

Author: Deborah Harkness

Read by: Jennifer Ikeda

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Length: Approximately 24.5 hours (20 CDs)

Source: Penguin Audio Review Copy

Shadow of Night is the second riveting novel in the wonderful Discovery of Witches trilogy. Diana Bishop and Matthew Clairmont continue their search for Ashmole 782 while also escaping from their prosecutors by “time walking” with Diana’s power to Elizabethan London. Once there, Diana meets a new coven and works on improving her use of her powers. Matthew has replaced his past self, which is always a tricky time travel problem when you are an ancient vampire and travel to an era that you once existed during. I’m not sure how I feel about this use of time travel. I think it might have been more interesting to have the past Matthew still there and to try to keep the past and future Matthews apart.

During Elizabethan times, Matthew was a part of the School of Night which included the thinkers of the day such as Sir Walter Raleigh, Christopher Marlowe, George Chapman and Thomas Harriot. Matthew is excited to see his old friends, especially his best friend Christopher Marlowe. Diana enjoys getting to know them all too, except for Marlowe who despises her for the love that Matthew shares with her and not him. They have many adventures trying to find Ashmole 782 and to navigate the dangerous politics at the time to stay alive. Diana tries to learn how to use her power, while falling deeper in love with Matthew.

I loved this book. I loved the romance between the two leads and I especially loved the historical detail of Elizabethan England. The one thing missing was the characters from the 20th century that I had grown to love in A Discovery of Witches. I can only hope they return in Book three. I also was annoyed by Marlowe. I think if I were Matthew, I would have disowned him as a friend long before he did. Anyone else annoyed?

Shadow of Night was a beautifully written and engaging novel and I can’t wait until Book 3. Jennifer Ikeda is the same narrator as in A Discovery of Witches and once again she did a fantastic job of bringing a unique voice to each character. This made the audiobook a joy to listen too. I highly recommend this novel.