How we cite our quotes: (Act.Chapter.Section.Paragraph), (Act.Special Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Later, after [Beli'd] been with The Gangster, she would realize how little respect Pujols had for her. But since she had nothing to compare it to at this time she assumed f***ing was supposed to feel like she was being run through with a cutlass. The first time she was scared s***less and it hurt bad (4d10), but nothing could obliterate the feeling she had that finally she was on her way, the sense of a journey starting, of a first step taken, of the beginning of something big. (1.3.7.1)
Um, that Jack Pujols character is a total jerk. He might be the worst boyfriend in the novel, excepting Ybón's capitán boyfriend. Okay, we can move on now. It's startling how Lola's motivations for having sex are so much like Beli's. Both feel restless as adolescents. Sex satisfies that restlessness, if only just for a moment.
Quote #5
Skilled our Gangster became in many a perfidy, but where our man truly excelled, where he smashed records and grabbed gold, was in the flesh trade. Then, like now, Santo Domingo was to popóla [slang for female genitalia] what Switzerland was to chocolate. And there was something about the binding, selling, and degradation of women that brought out the best in The Gangster; he had an instinct for it, a talent – call him the Caracaracol of Culo [Trickster of Ass]. (1.3.9.6)
We don't want to get all feminist on you, but. Oh wait, yes we do. Here, The Gangster does what most of the men in Wao do: treat women badly. In this book, men treat women like objects. They use them and toss them aside when they're done. Trujillo. Jack Pujols. The Gangster. The capitán… Need we say more?
Quote #6
Why is this the face I can't seem to forget, even now, after all these years? Tired from working, swollen from lack of sleep, a crazy mixture of ferocity and vulnerability that was and shall ever be Lola.
She looked at me until I couldn't stand it anymore and then she said: Just don't lie to me, Yunior.
I won't, I promised.
Don't laugh. My intentions were pure. (1.4.1.218-1.4.1.221)
We love Yunior despite his faults. And one of his faults is that he cheats on just about every girl he dates. Lola and Yunior are getting busy in this passage. Lola tells Yunior not to hurt her. Of course, Yunior will later cheat on Lola. He just can't help himself, we guess. (Though that seems like kind of a lame excuse.)