This novel deals with many aspects of growing up. It chronicles the life of Oscar, a Dominican growing up in New Jersey. Diaz plays around with language in the novel and while the book is predominantly in English, he does not provide any translations. Additionally, in the beginning, the ambiguity in the the narration shows how voice is an important aspect of the novel. For Oscar, he grew up with these strong ideas of masculinity forced upon him by his culture. He was overweight and nerdy which was the opposite of hyper-masculinity presented for Dominican men. In contrast, Yunior represents the ideal Dominican man. These forced ideals in turn cause both of them to have a very complicated relationship with sex and intimacy.