This Is How You Lose Her

Díaz's 2012 collection of nine linked stories, a finalist for the National Book Award, follows Yunior, a Dominican American who grew up in New Jersey, through his love affairs and betrayals. The stories trace his relationships with girlfriends, his older brother Rafa's illness, and his family's immigrant life, as Yunior tries, and mostly fails, to understand why he keeps losing the women he loves.

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Barack Obama: “I think Lahiri's books, I think Díaz's books, do speak to a very particular contemporary immigration experience. But also this combination of — that I think is universal — longing for this better place, but also feeling displaced and looking backwards at the same time. I think in that sense, their novels are directly connected to a lot of American literature.”