Pajaro

"Pajaro," witnesses how a man copes with a physical, emotional, psychological, and even cultural imprisonment. Alejandro loses his psychiatric practice at the hospital in the municipal of Altagracia in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic after it is discovered he is homosexual. This is a novel that attempts to illustrate what can happen to a man in a country, and within a family where Catholicism dominates and homosexuality is not condoned. But "Pajaro" is not only a novel about loss, but of repossession: a repossession of history, of the experiences that influence who we are, the people that have shaped us, and more importantly one's individual sense of liberation. The essence of "Pajaro," lies in the dialogue between the past and the present where the reader takes part in the experiences of Ale, Jose Francisco, and Pastora, the main characters. It is through these characters' experiences where the meaning of 'Pajaro' is revealed as multilayered, transforming as the story progresses and challenging not only notions assigned to 'Pajaro' but sexual, religious, and cultural constructs found in the Dominican Republic.