Unaccustomed Earth

Unaccustomed Earth
by Jhumpa Lahiri

Published in 2008. 352 pages.

Unaccustomed Earth


What its about (from amazon.com): Prologue includes quote from Nathaniel Hawthorne, "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 ... shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth." The gulf that separates Bengali parents from their American-raised children—and that separates the children from India—remains Lahiri's subject for this book. In this set of eight stories, the results are again stunning. In the title story, Brooklyn-to-Seattle transplant Ruma frets about a presumed obligation to bring her widower father into her home, a stressful decision taken out of her hands by his unexpected independence. The alcoholism of Rahul is described by his elder sister, Sudha; her disappointment and bewilderment pack a particularly powerful punch. And in the loosely linked trio of stories closing the collection, the lives of Hema and Kaushik intersect over the years, first in 1974 when she is six and he is nine; then at 13, she swoons at the now-handsome 16-year-old's reappearance; and again in Italy, when she is a 37-year-old academic about to enter an arranged marriage, and he is a 40-year-old photojournalist. An inchoate grief for mothers lost at different stages of life enters many tales and, as the book progresses, takes on enormous resonance.

My thoughts: I did not particularly care for this book. The first story was quite interesting, but being a short story, it seemed to be cut too short. I was left with more questions than I felt comfortable with. The second story was a waste of time. Really didn't mean anything to me. I liked the third story the best, about a sister and her alcoholic brother. I guess overall, the stories were interesting enough, but not my 'cup of tea'.

Overall Score: 2.75/5

When I finished it: May 7, 2008

What Im reading now: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella