Summary

“Negocios” is the longest story in the collection, at nearly a quarter of the book. This is Yunior’s father, Ramon’s, immigration story. This story spans the five years that Ramon was absent from his family’s life:from the moment he stepped off of the airplane in Miami until he goes to retrieve his family in the Dominican Republic.

Initially, Ramon lives in Miami for a few months. He moves in with three other guys and pays rent to sleep in the living room while he works at a Chinese restaurant. He lives like this until he realizes that he will never be able to save enough money this way to bring his family over. He begins his journey north to New York.

To save money he walks to New York from Miami, often sleeping on park benches. Midway through his trip he...