Unaccustomed Earth | Jhumpa Lahiri

Unaccustomed Earth | Jhumpa Lahiri | Wonderful characters

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Unaccustomed Earth

	Unaccustomed Earth Jhumpa Lahiri Knopf, 2008 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 117 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Beautiful

Unaccustomed Earth is a beautiful follow up to Interpreter of Maladies, which I had read and loved. Here, Jhumpa Lahiri returns to similar subject matter, the everyday lives of Bengali immigrants. Her characters remain, as ever, complex, well wrought creations that you feel you know intimately. I loved every story in this collection especially the long one at the end, which is more like a short novel. Lahiri's beautiful writing, her great story-telling ability, and deep sense of human sympathy make her works a pleasure to read. I could easily return to Unaccustomed Earth and read it again and probably with as much enjoyment as I did the first time.

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Wonderful characters

By the second paragraph you are interested in the characters and what will happen. A talented writer. An enjoyable read. She has become one of my favorite authors and I anxiously await her next book.

Simply put--Amazing.

These stories where beautiful. Lahiri seemed to push the enveloped a little more with this book, and the result is a beautiful work of prose. I couldn't put this one down. It was fantastic. Again, her stories deal with love, friendship, marriage and tragedy, making her characters real to her readers.

If you read, "Interpreter of Maladies" and liked it, you will love this!

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A comforting familiarity

I, like other readers, felt that many of the characters and stories seemed very similar to Ms. Lahiri's other works. While this may be the case, I found it comforting. Though the characters are almost always Begali, they could easily be members of other groups. I think Ms. Lahiri touches on themes common to most people: loneliness, isolation, longing, etc. Ms. Lahiri is writing what she knows and she does it well.

I think at this point, I would expect these types of stories from Ms. Lahiri, just as people expect horror from Stephen King. Can you imagine if you read this book and it was all about Cuban immigrants in Miami? Maybe a lot of the same themes would apply, but it wouldn't be what you'd expect.

It's nice to open this book and find some familiar (but different) characters back in Boston (and beyond). But once you go past the surface, there is more than the Bengali experience. It's not the "Namesake" in small chunks or "Interpreter of Maladies" with a few new characters.

With that said, I'd definitely recommend "Unaccustomed Earth" to those who have not read Ms. Lahiri before and those who are coming back for more. While the settings are familiar, you don't need to have read any of her other books to thoroughly enjoy this one. Finally, I'd say the last two related stories alone are worth the price of admission, so to speak. Enjoy!

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Unaccustomed Earth

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri: Jhumpa Lahiri, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Interpreter of Maladies, and author of The Namesake, returns after five years with Unaccustomed Earth, a collection of eight stories that are longer than short stories but not quite novella length. It's split into two parts. The first consists of five individual stories, while the second part consists of the last three tales, each involving the same two characters, Hema and Kaushik.

The first story, "Unaccustomed Earth," involves a family who recently moved to Seattle. After the death of Ruma's mother, she is left feeling guilty over the decision of whether or not to invite her aging Baba (father), to live with them. Not sure how to handle this, she invites him to stay with her for a week. Over the course of their time together, father and daughter rekindle their relationship, while secrets are revealed about their separate lives. Baba also meets and falls in love with Ruma's son Akash, looking after him, teaching him some Bengali, and treating him like a grandfather should - giving him more respect and attention than he has ever given Ruma. At the end of the week, Baba goes back home to his secret girlfriend and life of travel, leaving Ruma unsure, and the reader wanting more. "Unaccustomed Earth" sets the tone for the book, which offers stories of lives with problems and decisions and changes that affect all the characters. But it is those of Indian descent who have to deal with how much of their original culture they hold on to in their American lives.

"A Choice of Accommodations" is an interesting story about an interracial couple who are having problems with their marriage. During a weekend attending a friend's wedding, they rediscover their love and respect for each other. The most compelling story of the collection is "Nobody's Business," involving a young Indian girl, Sangeeta, who is involved with an Egyptian man, but continuously has suitors calling her with the hope of a meeting and eventual marriage. What makes the story interesting is that it is told from the perspective of the roommate, Paul, who has a crush on Sang, and finds himself unavoidably involved in her romantic and personal life while trying to complete his doctorate. While at first the story seems to go in an obvious direction, it eventually moves off on a new tangent as things change in Sang's relationship and she ends up moving back to England, with Paul having to deal with the leftover pieces.

Lahiri continues to do what she does best, creating strong, unique characters who stay with readers after the story is over. Sadly, Lahiri fails to take risks with her writing, always portraying Indian characters who - like herself - come from an affluent, upper class upbringing, in most cases in New York or New England. Perhaps in her next work, Lahiri will branch out from her write what you know world and venture into new territory. Nevertheless, Unaccustomed Earth is a fascinating collection of stories involving Indian characters struggling with issues involved in being American, but at the same time keeping their original heritage and culture alive.

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