Unaccustomed Earth
by Jhumpa Lahiri
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Book Reviews of Unaccustomed Earth
Book Review: Outstanding
Summary: 5 Stars
Jhumpa Lahiri just keeps getting better and better. "Unaccustomed Earth" is her third book and her second collection of short stories. I'm amazed that she was able to top "Interpreter of Maladies" with such rich, emotional portraits of love and loss. This book contains eight stories, three of which are linked together, and like all of Lahiri's previous works, each story focuses on individuals from Bengali families who are now living in the U.S. The title story revolves around Ruma, a woman who feels obligated to ask her widowed father to move into the home she shares with her father and son. Other highlights from the book include "Only Goodness," which revolves around an older sister's sense of duty toward her alcoholic brother; "Nobody's Business," a story of an American man who falls in love with his unavailable Indian roommate; and "Hema and Kaushik," three related stories that chronicle the relationship between two characters that spans more than 20 years.
Lahiri is one of the most prominent writers of modern fiction, and "Unaccustomed Earth" is another flawless collection of prose. I recommend this book to everyone, and strongly encourage you to check out the author's other two works as well.
Book Review: same old song....
Summary: 3 Stars
From the first few words of Jhumpa's stunning first story, you know you are reading her.....the style is simple but very much hers.
I particularly loved the title story, and feel its her best yet. On the whole I liked this better than "Interpreter..."
I agree with one of the other reviewers however. As an Indian who moved here in the 90s, I'm stuck between the two generations of Indians (always refered to as Bengalis in her book...Bengalis happen to be from India but are known for a slight strain of chauvinsim, shall we say) she describes. I've adopted most of the ways of people who live here and still have ties to my home in India. I still can relate to their stories however. I just wish she would depart every once in a while and populate her stories with people who are slightly different. Maybe Indians with Blue Collar jobs or Gay Indians or whatever else. Jhumpa, you've lived here long enough to have been touched by people who didn't go to Harvard or Columbia, didn't grow up in affluent Boston suburbs and don't have perfect careers (but silent personal struggles)...
Its like I'm hearing variations of the same (albeit beautiful) song over and over again.
Book Review: Takes Your Breath Away
Summary: 5 Stars
Finishing this collection of carefully wrought and longish short stories was bittersweet. Lahari is a master of character study, and it's difficult to believe she's still a young woman. Her descriptions of her multigenerational, mostly Bengali immigrant, characters felt intimate and usually sympathetic. The details may be Indian, but the emotions are universal. I can't think of any writer today who can so closely render the complicated interactions of adults and their offspring.
Two things are remarkable about these stories. One is the way she moves around from one point of view to another quite easily so that we see a situation from the standpoints of several characters. Lahiri switches smoothly in and out of various perspectives until she has rendered a little gem of a tale.
The second remarkable characteristic is the way she ends a story. It's not the classic O Henry ending where there's a twist that catches you by surprise and may not make sense entirely but what I think of now as a Lahiri ending, a devastating insight that takes your breath away. There's not an unsatisfying conclusion in any of the eight stories that make up this collection.
Book Review: A very special book
Summary: 5 Stars
Jhumpa Lahiri is one of the rare authors that I can feel the passion and joy of writing. When I read each one of her - sometimes - elaborated sentences, it comes with so much power that I cannot stop to envision, in the back of my mind, the pleasure Jhumpa Lahiri must have felt when she was putting together her thoughts on paper. Reading her brings me a ray of emotions. It is as drinking a very special wine, when all the flavors mixed together into something cohesive. Larihi is the grand cours of the literary word.
The themes are generation gap, the cultural gap, West vs. East, family, marriage, kids, death, building a career, Ivy League schools, geographic distances, love affairs, the 80s, Bengalis, New England (especially Boston and its suburbs) and a little bit of London. Anyone who has family and/or kids and/or experienced death in their family would easily relate with these story. Common household tasks, like working on the garden, washing dishes, throwing trash, are dramatically described, but the action always moves forward. All stories have beautiful ending. Sometime sadness, but never depression.
It is pure pleasure.
Book Review: Tales of the Second Generation
Summary: 5 Stars
Every time I read Jhumpa Lahiri's stories about the children of immigrants, I end up crying because I feel as if she is writing about me personally. I am not Indian, but I believe that she perfectly, exactly captures the push and pull that the children of immigrants (especially immigrants from non-Western countries) feel between America and their parents' home culture.
The first section of the book is stronger than the second, which maybe could be called a novella rather than a short story. I can understand why people criticize her for always writing the same story about the same characters, but for me, I can never get enough. I think that if you had this kind of childhood, especially if it was set in a place where you were extremely unusual for having immigrant parents, the constant reassurance that despite your belief that you were the only one in this situation while navigating the path into adulthood is extremely moving and comforting.
The characters and situations are so real. Usually I finish a short story feeling like there is more to be said, and as a result, I rarely read them, but Jhumpa Lahiri is really the master.