Junot Diaz set out to represent this character faithfully, and doing so meant using Spanglish; worrying about whether monolinguals would “get” the Spanish bits is besides the point.

As I said above, I realised it was understandable to use Spanish as to do so wouldn’t be faithful to the character’s own voice. However, whoever his audience is it’s not me, as a narrator needs an audience, otherwise what’s the point in them spouting off?

…it’s high literature aimed at people who take the time to look up words in a dictionary if they feel it’s necessary.

Who, when reading, commuting or otherwise, carries a dictionary around with them on the off chance that a word may crop up that needs an immediate definition. I’m not decrying Diaz’s choice to use Spanish, just that the context of its use wasn’t very helpful. Coming from an education system where German and French were the taught languages, I understand I may see it different than a culture that may learn Spanish as a second language.

One more thing: Junot isn’t using Oscar to write about his political interests in D.R. The whole point of the novel is that you CAN’T TELL Oscar’s story without the story of the women in his life and the story of D.R. and Trujillo, a dictatorship whose effects are still felt by every Dominican today.

This novel is absolutely brilliant and I haven’t met a single English monolingual who doesn’t think so. It’s fine if it wasn’t your cuppa tea, but I hope others aren’t discouraged from reading it based on your review, which missed the mark on several points.

…the Spanish is sometimes laid on so thick that, save taking time out to look up words and phrases, the context sheds no light.

I was in Borders yesterday and saw Diaz’s book, Drown. At least that edition had a Spanish glossary at the end.