No way of wrapping it pretty or pretending otherwise: Rafa estaba jodido.' The story recalls Rafa's battle with leukemia and his subsequent relationship with Pura, whom he eventually marries, which strains Rafa's relationship with Mami and Yunior. This story is told from the first-person perspective of Yunior and begins: 'Those last months. Despite their intentions, the two enter into a serious relationship that lasts two years. The title character is named Veronica Hardrada from Paterson, New Jersey and she meets Yunior in a James Joyce class in college. In conversation with Hilton Als, Junot calls it a foundational story, and an alternative to the narrative 'Negocios,' found in Drown. She is the woman with whom Yunior's father, Ramon, builds a relationship with leaving the Dominican Republic. This is an exception to the other stories in the collection as it is told from the perspective of an immigrant woman who works at a laundromat. Alma waits for him to publicly ridicule and dump him. Yunior has been dating the title character for eight months and the story takes place as she had opened his journal to learn that Yunior was cheating on her with another girl. A key sentence from this story is the source of the collection's title. This story was originally published in the 24 December 2007 edition of The New Yorker and is the shortest story in the collection. Nilda also dreams of opening a group home for runaway kids. The basis of Nilda and Yunior's relationship is that she spends the night at Yunior and Rafa's house largely to avoid her drunken mother and Yunior develops a friendship with her as they talk together waiting for Rafa to get home at night. Like in 'The Pura Principle,' the title character of 'Nilda' is the girlfriend of Yunior's brother, Rafa. This story was included in The Best American Short Stories 2000.

It traces Yunior taking Magdalena on a vacation to Santo Domingo in an unsuccessful effort to salvage their relationship. This story was included in The Best American Short Stories 1999. The collection is composed of nine interlinked short stories. It is the third of Díaz's books to feature his recurring protagonist Yunior, following his 1996 short story collection, Drown and his 2007 novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. This Is How You Lose Her is the second collection of short stories by Junot Díaz.

Drown junot diaz summary sparknotes