My flashback took a wrong turn...

Ysrael by Junot Diaz is so far my favorite of all the short stories in the book. Diaz showed great detail his writing, so much that it actually brought me back to my childhood during my brief 2-year stay with my family in Honduras when I was six. Rafa reminded me of my cousin Javier back in Honduras, but Javier wasn't a jerk to me like Rafa is to the protagonist. I was completely enthralled in the journey to finding Ysrael, but was totally caught off-guard with what they did when they found him; I sympathized more for Ysrael by the end, rather than the two main character, much less Rafa. Having read Ysrael, I think I will be checking out more of his work in the future.