“Unaccustomed Earth” by Jhumpa Lahiri
I wasn’t able to read Unaccustomed Earth during the Morning News Tournament of Books this year; the reserve queue for it was too long at my library. Interestingly, the book didn’t fare well in the competition, though every judge only had good things to say about it. Having read it myself, I’m surprised at its poor performance; this is an engaging, well-written book of short stories, three of them linked.
Lahiri’s characters tend to be Bengali-Americans in relationships with non-Bengalis. Her writing has an emotional resonance that crosses cultures, generations and continents. Her characters are complex, and I found it easy to sympathize and empathize with them, even those whose circumstances were worlds away from mine. But as Lahiri’s stories ably demonstrate, experiences aren’t as disparate as some might think. A few passages in the book gave me that creepy, someone’s-been-looking-over-my-shoulder feeling, as they detailed unattractive emotions and feelings often left unsaid:
Wasn’t it since his [second child's] birth that so much of his and Megan’s energy was devoted not to doing things together but devising ways so that each could have some time alone, she taking the girls so that he could go running in the park on her days off, or vice versa, so that she could browse in a bookstore or get her nails done? And wasn’t it terrible, how sometimes even a ride by himself on the subway was the best part of the day? Wasn’t it terrible that after all the work one put into finding a person to spend one’s life with, after making a family with that person, even in spite of missing that person, as Amit missed Megan night after night, that solitude was what one relished most, the only thing that, even in fleeting, diminished doses, kept one sane?
I enjoyed and admired these stories, even as they sometimes brought pain and sadness. The ending reminded me strongly of another novel, A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, and made me curious if there might be a reason for the similarities. I’m certainly interested in reading both of Lahiri’s previous books, The Interpreter of Maladies and The Namesake.
May 16th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
I’m glad this one worked for you, although I would say that it largely did not work for me. I found the stories far too repetitive and, ironically, treading the same ground (might as well call the book “Accustomed Earth”, in my opinion), down to basic details. I think it’s all well and good to conceptually link your stories in a collection, but with each passing story, I felt they detracted more and more from one another, because I felt Lahiri had nothing new to say. Rather than a multi-layered collection, I felt she told the same story over and over again.
But I did think the writing was quite nice and I certainly had not trouble actually identifying with her characters. Whereas certain fiction involving immigrants has been hard for me to connect with in the past, I had a very clear idea of who Lahiri’s characters were as well as their struggles.
May 16th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
You know, Lahiri’s writing about marriage intrigues me. She usually paints quite a bleak picture - even if it is catching the tenderness of a new marriage, it points to a bleak future. And yet - most of her work that I read was written before she was married or right afterward. I wonder if her own parents had a rather cold marriage.
May 16th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
I’ve read both of Lahiri’s previous books but haven’t got Unaccustomed Earth yet. But if you liked it, I predict you will LOVE Interpreter. I read those stories several years ago (see my review at http://mindywithrow.com/?p=203) and can still tell you about most of them, as they really got under my skin (in the best way). Thanks for this review!