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Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
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Unaccustomed Earth

by Jhumpa Lahiri

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Diaspora Stories

I'm not usually a big fan of the short story genre but to me, "Unaccustomed Earth" is definitely one of the better collections out there. The stories are generally set around middle-class Indian families living in North America. To me, I found the stories to be genuine and relatable. There tends to be an Orientalist view of every immigrant coming from the East or Latin America or Africa as poor and destitute. That is obviously not the case, and Lahiri accurately captures their lives with great lucidity.

As for the writing itself, Lahiri is one of those writers that uses the power of suggestion. It is precisely what is not said, but implied, which forces the audience to confront their own emotions of reacting to the situations. The last story, "Going Ashore" is perhaps the best example of this style. It definitely requires a sharp eye, and a keen sense, to unravel what is being 'suggested', but that is what is so enjoyable about the stories in this book. ( )
bruchu | Jul 7, 2009 |  
This book was most deserving of all the hype it received. While the stories had similiarities (usually touching Boston or the Northeast and all involving Indian immigrants), the stories involved very different and thought-provoking themes. I was very able to relate to the characters (i.e. I wanted to invite them all over for coffee/tea). The characters were fascinating in their human flaws and frailities. I loved this book. ( )
Bridget770 | Jun 23, 2009 |  
I really loved Jhumpa Lahiri's first two books, but I put off reading this one for a while because I made the mistake of reading some bad reviews when it first came out and lost interest. Knowing about the kinds of criticism that Unaccustomed Earth has received, I was not disappointed when I finally read it, just dissatisfied. The kinds of details that made Interpreter of Maladies and The Namesake so richly textured become mind-numbingly repetitive here. I can't decide if it is a sign of Lahiri's talent that (most of) her characters' bourgeois self-involvement is as suffocating to the reader as it to them, or if it's just mediocre writing. The restrained elegance of her previous books is still here; it just fails to shine through a lot of the time. ( )
achiral | Jun 22, 2009 |  
I'm totally mystified why & how this writer has won the awards she has. Not impressed. No depth, no surprises, repetitive situations & characters -- this is in fact just solid, workmanlike reportage. REAL short story writing is what Alice Munro and Mavis Gallant do. But one thing she does get right -- that is her portrayal of men. I felt very at home reading these stories. I need to be transported a little further than my own experiences, familiar observations & limited writing abilities can take me. ( )
caroleyeaman | Jun 18, 2009 |  
Lahiri's characters gain depth so quickly. Her stories read as if they were written effortlessly. The language is clear, the emotions ring true. The last three, glimpses of the same two characters at different ages and life circumstances, cap this incredibly rich collection of stories. As strong as The Interpreter of Maladies, Lahiri's writing never fails to provide a rewarding reading experience. Highly recommended. ( )
Griff | May 23, 2009 |  
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Epigraph
"Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil. My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth."

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Customs House
Dedication
For my parents and for my sister
First words
After her mother's death, Ruma's father retired from the pharmaceutical company where he had worked for many decades and began traveling in Europe, a continent he'd never seen.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0307265730, Hardcover)

From the internationally best-selling, Pulitzer Prize–winning author, a superbly crafted new work of fiction: eight stories—longer and more emotionally complex than any she has yet written—that take us from Cambridge and Seattle to India and Thailand as they enter the lives of sisters and brothers, fathers and mothers, daughters and sons, friends and lovers.

In the stunning title story, Ruma, a young mother in a new city, is visited by her father, who carefully tends the earth of her garden, where he and his grandson form a special bond. But he’s harboring a secret from his daughter, a love affair he’s keeping all to himself. In “A Choice of Accommodations,” a husband’s attempt to turn an old friend’s wedding into a romantic getaway weekend with his wife takes a dark, revealing turn as the party lasts deep into the night. In “Only Goodness,” a sister eager to give her younger brother the perfect childhood she never had is overwhelmed by guilt, anguish, and anger when his alcoholism threatens her family. And in “Hema and Kaushik,” a trio of linked stories—a luminous, intensely compelling elegy of life, death, love, and fate—we follow the lives of a girl and boy who, one winter, share a house in Massachusetts. They travel from innocence to experience on separate, sometimes painful paths, until destiny brings them together again years later in Rome.

Unaccustomed Earth is rich with Jhumpa Lahiri’s signature gifts: exquisite prose, emotional wisdom, and subtle renderings of the most intricate workings of the heart and mind. It is a masterful, dazzling work of a writer at the peak of her powers.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:16 -0400)

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