Jhumpa Lahiri's collection of stories about Indian youths finding themselves in America
Ever since I was introduced to a few of Jhumpa Lahiri’s short stories in my college Asian American Literature class, I became deeply smitten. After the semester was over, I went back to Lahiri’s first published collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies, and read the entire thing through. Every character is connected by their hunger for self-discovery and independence, yet wholly different from each other at the same time. I instantly became entangled in their complex relationships with their Indian upbringing and heritage in a modern American world. Nobody tells a story of cultural clash more swiftly than Lahiri does, and her latest collection of short stories is proof of this.
In Unaccustomed Earth, Lahiri paints eight intricately woven portraits of a young Indian man or woman trying to find his or her place in America. They always come from similar families of privileged backgrounds and Ivy League educations, coming to America to live a better life than the one they would have if they were to stay in India. Lahiri is known for her use of simple language unaffected by sharp humor. Her words and characters can sometimes come across as very dry and serious, but it makes sense because she is dealing with a very serious and personal subject. It is a subject that she herself has experienced as a young Indian woman who moved to America when she was just three years old.
Every single word is precise and well thought out. She gets straight to the point and leaves out any embellishments; yet if you dig deeper, you find how complex the strain of language really is. The meaning of each word, no matter how simple, echoes with you long after you’ve read them. Each story forces you to dig deeper beneath the surface, and sometimes monotonous exterior, to find something malleable and real about its characters that seem so shielded. Even though they have been in America for so long, they still seem lost within themselves and the world they live in.
In the title story, an Indian daughter, totally assimilated into American culture with her white husband and their son, is reunited with her father. Memories of her roots are thrown upon her and bring to light the differences between first and second generation immigrant families, as well as the bond between them that will never fade.
One of my favorite stories was “Only Goodness.” It analyzes an Indian-
American sister and the deteriorating relationship she has with her younger brother who falls under the reigns of alcoholism after a drink that she first introduced to him. Her brother’s failures and resistance rock the foundations of her family and later come to threaten the trust and balance of her adult life as a wife and mother.
Each story was relentlessly touching and fleeting at the same time. I wanted to knock down each character and make them realize a better and faster way to self-discovery, but deep down I knew how hard it is to find this path. I found myself coming to sympathize with the shield each of Lahiri’s characters used to protect themselves with; a coping mechanism to deal with the responsibility and expectations their families place upon them against what they really want achieve in life.
By the end of each story, I came to realize the many dimensions of each character that I was unable to see in the beginning. Peeling apart the layers of Lahiri’s characters was one of the most fulfilling parts of her tightly wounded storylines, giving me a new perspective on the individual’s search for a full discovery of self that is found, lost, or never grasped at all. When you read Lahiri’s stories, you are transported into a world that seems so far and yet so close to us. Each story is an exploration of culture and individual yearning, two things that conflict with each other as much as they go hand in hand. Because of this, I cannot wait for Lahiri’s next collection of stories.
Published May 25, 2010 on LVCMag.com
In Unaccustomed Earth, Lahiri paints eight intricately woven portraits of a young Indian man or woman trying to find his or her place in America. They always come from similar families of privileged backgrounds and Ivy League educations, coming to America to live a better life than the one they would have if they were to stay in India. Lahiri is known for her use of simple language unaffected by sharp humor. Her words and characters can sometimes come across as very dry and serious, but it makes sense because she is dealing with a very serious and personal subject. It is a subject that she herself has experienced as a young Indian woman who moved to America when she was just three years old.
Every single word is precise and well thought out. She gets straight to the point and leaves out any embellishments; yet if you dig deeper, you find how complex the strain of language really is. The meaning of each word, no matter how simple, echoes with you long after you’ve read them. Each story forces you to dig deeper beneath the surface, and sometimes monotonous exterior, to find something malleable and real about its characters that seem so shielded. Even though they have been in America for so long, they still seem lost within themselves and the world they live in.
In the title story, an Indian daughter, totally assimilated into American culture with her white husband and their son, is reunited with her father. Memories of her roots are thrown upon her and bring to light the differences between first and second generation immigrant families, as well as the bond between them that will never fade.
One of my favorite stories was “Only Goodness.” It analyzes an Indian-
American sister and the deteriorating relationship she has with her younger brother who falls under the reigns of alcoholism after a drink that she first introduced to him. Her brother’s failures and resistance rock the foundations of her family and later come to threaten the trust and balance of her adult life as a wife and mother.
Each story was relentlessly touching and fleeting at the same time. I wanted to knock down each character and make them realize a better and faster way to self-discovery, but deep down I knew how hard it is to find this path. I found myself coming to sympathize with the shield each of Lahiri’s characters used to protect themselves with; a coping mechanism to deal with the responsibility and expectations their families place upon them against what they really want achieve in life.
By the end of each story, I came to realize the many dimensions of each character that I was unable to see in the beginning. Peeling apart the layers of Lahiri’s characters was one of the most fulfilling parts of her tightly wounded storylines, giving me a new perspective on the individual’s search for a full discovery of self that is found, lost, or never grasped at all. When you read Lahiri’s stories, you are transported into a world that seems so far and yet so close to us. Each story is an exploration of culture and individual yearning, two things that conflict with each other as much as they go hand in hand. Because of this, I cannot wait for Lahiri’s next collection of stories.
Published May 25, 2010 on LVCMag.com
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