I Just Read About That…

[LISTENED TO: November 20, 2013] “The Dating Game” podcast

In the second New Yorker fiction podcast, Edwidge Danticat doesn’t read Díaz’s story but rather she discusses it and her connection to Díaz after listening to the audio from the New Yorker Out Loud 2 CD (the story is read by Junot Díaz with Gail Thomas doing the female voices).

I have yet to read Díaz’s Drown (for no real reason, I just haven’t), which is where this story appears.  And I enjoyed that this story is written in the same style as his later stories about Junior (sure, I suppose he will need to move beyond Junior as a character but it seems like he has plenty of stories to tell).  And I found this story unsettling and very enjoyable.

The story is a funny/obnoxious (I mean, re-read the title) story about, as the title suggests, how to date a girl–there are different specifics depending on her race (white girls will put out, but local girls you need to take to the fancy restaurant).  And be sure to take the government cheese out of the fridge so she doesn’t see it–but be damn sure to put it back before your mom gets home.

The reading is wonderful and having Thomas do the female voices really adds a nice touch.  I would say more about the story, but Danticat says a lot of what I was thinking about it. 

Danticat is a Haitian writer (Díaz is Dominican).  Dantitcat says that they are frequently paired together because they are from two sides of the same island (even though he speaks/writes in partial Spanish and she speaks/writes in partial Creole they get lumped together as Hispaniolas).  She has an affinity for his writing and his style (and his use of non-English words in his stories–something she does as well). But she chose this story because it is vaguely controversial, and she is repelled and attracted to it.

On the surface the story is rather obnoxious–full of bravado and machismo (Dantitcat says she has several brothers and can relate to that attitude in boys).  And despite the fact that it is written as an instruction manual (which simplifies and objectifies women), at the heart of the story is a vulnerability that undermines the swagger of the narrator.  When you read it closely (especially at the end), it comes across that this story is all about wishful thinking.  That even though he has all of these instructions and is so detailed in his plans, he fails in his “quest.”  And the fact that he writes this story and ends it by himself watching TV really speaks volumes without explicitly stating anything.

It’s quite clever (although Danticat says Díaz has taken a lot of shit for it, especially in readings, because women think he is that guy). But she really likes Díaz’s work and is happy that they will be reunited in the next fiction issue.

I also really Danticat’s comments about how people think that each of them speaks for an entire country and culture (as if John Updike “speaks” for all white people).  Dantitcat was very funny interviewee and I enjoyed her insights a lot.

For ease of searching, I include: Junot Diaz