Drown — Vocabulary
Junot Diaz
(Auto-generated)

It was the first time he had moved outside the umbra of his fellow immigrants.6 more

The sun could have set twice on his deliberations but with his eyes quitting, his farm in Azua now dust and his familia in need, what could he really do?1 more

The actors throw themselves around, passionate, but their words are plain and deliberate.1 more

Nilda wasn't optimistic about his plan.1 more

I watched him go through the elaborate ritual of lighting up--the flip of the thin cigarrillo into his lips and then the spark, a single practiced snap of the thumb.1 more

Although the streets were empty and accordion gates stretched in front of store-fronts Papi recognized the prosperity in the buildings and in the tall operative lampposts.†2 more

The two fights he had were reported to the bosses and they put him on probation.2 more

It was a lucid enjoyable night that would stick out in his memory like a spike.1 more

I still wanted him to love me, something that never seemed strange or contradictory until years later, when he was out of our lives.†

His father, Jose Edilio, the loudmouthed ball-breaking vagrant who had never married Papi's mother but nevertheless had given her nine children, had attempted a similar stunt when he worked in a hotel kitchen in Rao Piedras.†

New York, he said, carefully omitting the Nueva and the Yol.†

It was nearly a two-hour commute,1 more

When Rafa showed himself an hour later, swaggering in from a game of pool, I'd already tried to speak to Mami and Abuelo like five times.†1 more

With the hum of his new life Papi should have found it easy to bury the memory of us but neither his conscience, nor the letters from home that found him wherever he went, would allow it.†1 more

She had two kids of her own, Yennifer and Bienvenido, but she didn't dote on them the way she doted on me.†1 more

In her mind, American things—appliances, mouthwash, funny-looking upholstery—all seemed to have an intrinsic badness about them.†

I try to sound conciliatory.

Pruitt said he was contrite and determined and asked us to come again.

He walked back the way he had come and went into the hotel, its spastic neon sign obtrusively jutting into the street.

Once Chuito complained to the bosses and was written up for detracting from the familial spirit of the department.†