Tag Archives: Jhumpa Lahiri

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

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Synopsis:
A collection of short stories featuring Indian American protagonists.

Review:
Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel The Namesake was one of my favorite books I read the year I was pregnant with Superfast Toddler, and I was so happy to get Unaccustomed Earth for Christmas this year.

What I love about Lahiri’s stories is that I never feel shortchanged by them. No matter how good a short story is, for the most part I always wish I were reading a novel instead. Short stories are too brief, too concise, to economic for me. I prefer to languish in my reading. Somehow, Lahiri manages to create short fiction that feels novelistic. I get lost in her stories, and never feel like they’ve ended too soon.

The second half of the book is a love story told in three parts: from the point of view of each of the lovers, and then in the third person as their love affair plays out. It’s basically a novella, yet each section offers its own unique satisfactions and pleasures. She captures love and passion so well, not to mention the (usually) inevitable heartbreak.

I’m teaching a college writing course this spring and planning to use one of Lahiri’s stories. I have no idea yet which one, because they’re all so marvelous. Her effortless prose style has beauty but no ostentation, but in her simplicity she captures so much complexity. I can’t think of anyone better from whom to learn the craft of fiction writing.

Favorite Author Meme

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Heather at Errant Dreams came up with a wonderful meme–enjoy & consider yourself tagged!

* Answer the questions as you see fit. Although they’re all phrased to ask about a singular author, feel free to respond with multiples, or even a list.
* Where possible & convenient (you don’t have to go as crazy as I did!), include a link here or there to an author’s website, your review of one of their books, or a review that inspired you to try the author(s), so your readers can get more information on anyone that sounds interesting.
* Tag five people and drop by their blogs to let them know you tagged them, or open-tag your readers.
* It would be nice if you included a link back to your tagger.

1. Who’s your all-time favorite author, and why?

I think I would have to say CS Lewis. I’ve read all of his books, many of them several times. I’ve read the Narnia Chronicles at least a dozen times, and books like The Great Divorce and The Screwtape Letters have meant a lot to me at certain times in my life.

2. Who was your first favorite author, and why? Do you still consider him or her among your favorites?

The first author I remember being obsessed with–as in, I’ve got to read everything by this person–was John Bellairs. He wrote gothic stories for kids illustrated by Edward Gorey that were imaginative and just scary enough, and the first one I read was The House with a Clock in its Walls. I’m saving a few for Superfast Baby when she’s old enough. I had read multiple books by other authors, but I was more into the series, than the author, as with the All of a Kind Family books.

3. Who’s the most recent addition to your list of favorite authors, and why?

Robin Hobb, without question. She’s a superlative storyteller and I just lost myself in love starting with Assassin’s Apprentice. I’d also add Leo Tolstoy and Jhumpa Lahiri to the list, having read both of them for the first time in 2007.

4. If someone asked you who your favorite authors were right now, which authors would first pop out of your mouth? Are there any you’d add on a moment of further reflection?

Margaret Atwood, Jane Austen, Leo Tolstoy, Stephen King, Madeleine L’Engle, CS Lewis, Robin Hobb, George RR Martin, Shirley Jackson, Patricia Highsmith, Charles Dickens, Kathleen Norris, Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine, Dan Allender, Edith Wharton, Jhumpa Lahiri.

Nothing really to add on further reflection. I spend a lot of time thinking about my favorite authors!

Top 20 Meme

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Picked this up from Becky:

The rules: Top twenty favourite books in no particular order. Don’t think about it for too long. Take twenty minutes only to compile your list. Bold the ones you’ve read, or reread, since you’ve started blogging. Include novels, non fiction and plays.

1. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
3. Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
4. Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King
5. Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb
6. Till We Have Faces by CS Lewis
7. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
8. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
9. Arcadia by Tom Stoppard
10. Asylum by Patrick McGrath
11. Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier
12. Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy
13. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
14. Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson
15. Private Demons by Judy Oppenheimer
16. Bird by Bird by Anne LaMott
17. The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris
18. Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
19. The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler
20. Birth at Home by Sheila Kitzinger

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

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Synopsis:
A collection of short stories set mostly among Indian immigrants in the US.

Review:
Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake was one of my favorite reads of last year, so I decided I needed to check out her much-buzzed about collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies. It will surprise no one who has read these tales that I found them both simple and spectacular.

I am not usually a fan of short stories, though now that I am short on time for reading I’m finding them to be the perfect reading experience. In the past, I have gotten frustrated with short stories because they are over just too quickly, and I can’t read more than two from the same collection at a sitting without feeling like they’re starting to run together. Short stories are best appreciated on their own, so they’re just not suited for long reading sessions. They are, however, ideal for subway trips while wearing a baby who’s not sure she wants to take a nap. A 45-minute commute yields maybe 15 minutes of reading time. And that’s the perfect span for appreciating a good short story.

My other usual beef with short stories is that most of them seem to be trying too hard. It’s rare–outside of genre fiction–for a story to capture my attention based on concept alone. I just don’t want to read a strictly realist short story, no matter how acute the insights. Ho hum, is what I say. I most admire those stories that take me somewhere I’ve never been before. That’s why I’ve devoured Shirley Jackson’s stories. Most of them are set in the “real” world, but things are always just a little bit tweaked, with humor or with gothic weirdness or with just plain horror.

Lahiri certainly delivers a larger-than-life experience in each story. She’s got unique characters who are spellbinding without falling into quirky cliche, and she gives each story a plot with a strong enough motor to keep me turning the pages. She just has a way of making me curious about her situations, and when the stories are over I’m sad to say goodbye to the people to whom she’s introduced me.

My favorite story is the last, “The Third and Final Continent.” It’s an achingly sweet musing on the nature of love and longevity. The prose of the ending is so plain and direct that it’s like opening the door to a familiar surprise. The quiet confidence of her writing is alluring and winsome, and her command of point-of-view conjured up my beloved Kazuo Ishiguro.

The Smartest Book Meme in Town

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As created by Eva, who will enter you in a drawing if you leave a comment on her post. Thanks for the, Sheila! I’m tagging Alissa, Terri, Megan, Rhinoa, and Ian–or Ian’s dad

Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews?

Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union. I was in the midst of a horrific breakup while reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and I put it down halfway through and have not Chabonned since.

In addition, he just can’t shake the stink of pretension in my eyes. He’s in the same company as Jonathan Lethem.

If you could bring three characters to life for a social event (afternoon tea, a night of clubbing, perhaps a world cruise), who would they be and what would the event be?

Now that I’m a mom, I’m flooded with insecurity and questions about child-rearing. So I’d like to spend a day at the park with Marmee from Little Women, Meg Murry’s mom from A Wrinkle in Time, and Kristin Lavransdatter from The Cross. I’d just sit and listen to them tell me everything they’ve learned from raising such fantastic children.

(Borrowing shamelessly from the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde): you are told you can’t die until you read the most boring novel on the planet. While this immortality is great for awhile, eventually you realise it’s past time to die. Which book would you expect to get you a nice grave?

Christian Metz’s The Imaginary Signifier. I hope I don’t have my master’s revoked for admitting that I could never get past page one.

Come on, we’ve all been there. Which book have you pretended, or at least hinted, that you’ve read, when in fact you’ve been nowhere near it?

Um… see previous?

As an addition to the last question, has there been a book that you really thought you had read, only to realise when you read a review about it/go to ‘reread’ it that you haven’t? Which book?

That has never happened to me. I can’t imagine what that would be like.

You’re interviewing for the post of Official Book Advisor to some VIP (who’s not a big reader). What’s the first book you’d recommend and why? (if you feel like you’d have to know the person, go ahead of personalise the VIP)

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, because it was an intoxicatingly pleasurable reading experience.

A good fairy comes and grants you one wish: you will have perfect reading comprehension in the foreign language of your choice. Which language do you go with?

Like Sheila, I’m going to go with Russian. My second choice would have to be French (and dammit, at one point I was so close).

A mischievious fairy comes and says that you must choose one book that you will reread one a year for the rest of your life (you can read other books as well). Which book would you pick?

War and Peace… having finally read it, I feel like it’s an imperative to read this book as regularly as possible.

I know that the book blogging community, and its various challenges, have pushed my reading borders. What’s one bookish thing you ‘discovered’ from book blogging (maybe a new genre, or author, or new appreciation for cover art-anything)?

Booking Through Thursday has been fun. Author-wise, I don’t think I would have read Henry Green or Robertson Davies if it hadn’t been for blogging.

That good fairy is back for one final visit. Now, she’s granting you your dream library! Describe it. Is everything leatherbound? Is it full of first edition hardcovers? Pristine trade paperbacks? Perhaps a few favourite authors have inscribed their works? Go ahead-let your imagination run free.

Well, Sheila basically described what would be my dream space, I’m going to also add a touch of magic. Bookshelves that never run out of room. Books that never go missing. Books that are always available to lend out–even if they never come back, there’s always a copy available. And a magic clock, so I can stop the hands of time and steal an hour to read.

Highlights (Booking Through Thursday)

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From Booking Through Thursday:

It’s an old question, but a good one . . . What were your favorite books this year?

List as many as you like … fiction, non-fiction, mystery, romance, science-fiction, business, travel, cookbooks … whatever the category. But, really, we’re all dying to know. What books were the highlight of your reading year in 2007?

It was a good year, reading-wise. Here are my highlights, with links to my reviews.

The Ghost Writer by John Harwood

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

Private Demons: The Life of Shirley Jackson by Judy Oppenheimer

The Cross (Kristin Lavransdatter 3) by Sigrid Undset

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (translated by Joel Carmichael)

Judgment in Stone by Ruth Rendell

And a few series:

Dave Duncan’s A Man of His Word and A Handful of Men

Megan Lindholm’s Ki and Vandien Quartet

One Year Anniversary!

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And what a great year it’s been… I get so much pleasure out of blogging about the books I’m reading, not to mention interacting with commenters and other book bloggers. I’ve catalogued the books I own on Librarything, Goodreads is a growing list of all the books I’ve ever read, and I’m giving away books on Bookmooch.

I have 330 posts. Now, my general rule is that I only post when I’ve finished a book, but I went through my archive and counted about 25 posts that were not linked to a book (ie contest announcements and blogging projects). That means I still read over 300 books this year. I’ve never actually counted my reads before, and I’m a little scared.

Those 330 posts generated over 1600 comments, for which I’m incredibly grateful. Continue reading →

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

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Synopsis:
An Indian-American immigrant named after a Russian writer struggles to find his place in the world.

Review:
I know the month is only 2 days young, but The Namesake might be my favorite read of October. Sprawling and intimate, Gogol Ganguli’s story riveted me in a way that I wish Zadie Smith’s White Teeth had. Though perhaps that’s just that I’m an American and not British. I found Gogol’s world and struggles to be accessible, and I connected with him even though he’s very different from me. That didn’t happen with any of the characters in White Teeth. Continue reading →