Book 3

I first heard of Jhumpa Lahiri when her book "The Namesake" was released as a movie. Though her first book "Interpreter of Maladies" was an award winning book, I had not heard much about her. I got Interpreter at a bookstore and read 2 stories and gave up. Later when I tried to read Namesake I was hooked. Namesake was written very well and I'm sure Indian living away from their homeland could relate to it.

As soon as "Unaccustomed Earth" was published I rushed and got a copy. I was not aware that it was a collection of short stories. When I flipped through the book I realized this and gave up since I am not a big fan of short stories. I feel that by the time I get to know the characters the story ends. Soon I forgot about this book. Two weeks back we went to a friend's place and I saw that she was reading this book. It piqued my interest so I decided to give it a try again.

I was surprised that I actually found the book a little interesting and soon I finished the entire book. This book splits the experiences of the characters in Namesake into different stories. Essentially the book is again about Bengali immigrants and their second generation kids. What we got as a whole in Namesake we get in parts in this book. Most of the stories are engrossing and this time she has even taken us to Rome in the third part of Hema-Kaushik trilogy. The book is a good read. Since I live in New England I am able to recognize most of the places that are mentioned in the stories. Maybe that's why I enjoyed the book a little more.

A short description of each story is given below.

The book has 6 individual stories. The last story is written in 3 parts. The title story "Unaccustomed Earth" deals with a father - daughter relationship. I don't know about most people but I get along very well with my dad. So I could really not relate to this story where the daughter is estranged from her dad and they hardly have anything in common to talk about. The story is about the daughter debating about asking her father to stay with them since he is lonely now. She finally decides to ask him to stay and his reply forms the rest of the story.

The second story "Hell - Heaven" is the narrated by the daughter of an immigrant Bengali family who is befriend by a homesick Bengali student. Her mother forms a bond with this new person and has a tough time letting him go when he decides to marry an American girl. She feels that he will ultimately end up heartbroken as the American girl will eventually dump him. Does he get dumped? Is anybody left with a broken heart? Read the story to find out.

"A Choice of Accomodations" is a story of a Bengali guy and his non Bengali wife who head to his school to attend the wedding of his old friend. They decide to make it a vacation, leaving their kids behind with his in-laws. While attending the wedding some unpredictable events happen and leave the couple pondering about their relationship.

Brother - sister sentiment is the focus of "Only Goodness". Sudha, the elder sister of Rahul, introduces him to alcohol, unaware that this will be the beginning of his ruin. He soon becomes an alcoholic and the family has a downward spiral from there. What is tough to digest is that though Sudha was a doting sister when Rahul was young, she stays aloof of his drinking problem and no one in the family tries to acknowledge the fact and take a positive action. What happens to Rahul and his family? That is the story.

"Nobody's Business" is about a Bengali girl Sang (short for Sangeeta) who lives with 2 housemates - Paul and Heather. Sang has an Egyptian boyfriend. Though things seem rosy and pretty, soon there is a lot of confusion and pain. Paul unknowingly gets to know a secret about Farouq that can change Sang's relationship with him. Will he share it with her even though he knows her life will never remain the same again?

"Hema and Kaushik" - This story is written in 3 parts. The first part is a first person narrative by teenage Hema about the time when she is forced to share her house with Kaushik and his parents when they decide to come back to US after a few years in Bombay. Hema narrates her memories of the stay. The second part takes us a few years into the future and is first person narrative by Kaushik about his current life. The third part advances even further into time when both Hema and Kaushik have totally different lives and meet unexpectedly in Rome. Their experiences in Rome completes the trilogy.

On the whole a good read, though initially I felt skeptic about reading over and over about the lives of Bengali immigrants in US.