by Junot DiazRating: B-
Review: It look a long time for me to get into the story line. For whatever reason I just couldn't connect or relate to a Dominican family in New Jersey. Even though they were vulnerable and sad, I didn't like that the characters had no redemptive qualities. They all had messed up lives, and it kind of stayed that way. I'm sure there is an exception to this rule, maybe with Lola, but even then, there wasn't something that stood out as that great - just kind of mediocre. I'm not saying that reading the book was torturous, but it did go slower than I thought and the whole time it felt like I was just willing it to be over.
When Diaz started talking about fuku and zafa, it got me thinking about how every culture has their version of bad luck. Some that are long in tradition and have been around for centuries, and some that we create within our lives just because of our own superstitious natures.
The Greeks have the evil eye. Italians wear horn-shaped pendants to ward off bad spirits. Native Americans have dream catchers. Thespians wish you to "break a leg." We're all guilty of it. Even my own grandmother warns me with "advice" like: Don't laugh to hard because you'll end up crying.
Maybe this kind of stuff does exist and we should throw the salt over our shoulder and make sure to knock on wood - but maybe it is just our imagination, or one of those chicken and egg scenarios. You are cursed because you think you are cursed or You think you're cursed, because you are cursed.
Do any of you have examples of weird everyday superstitions that you find interesting?
I carry a Susan B. Anthony in my pocket. That's about the only superstitious thing I do consistently.
ReplyDeleteI'm Dominican and had never heard of fuku and zafa. I was born and raised in NYC, but spent summers in the Dominican Republic, maybe that's how I missed it.
ReplyDeleteIn the Dominican community a common one that I know is the "evil eye" which is called "mal de ojo" and you wear a black pendant in shape of a fist to protect against it. It used to be very common to see babies with the pendant on a bracelet or safety pinned to their clothes. I haven't seen those in a while.