The Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri is a collection of short stories that reminded me very much of Interpreter of Maladies. Jhumpa Lahiri touches on some of the same themes such as the immigration experience for Indians, arranged marriages and love marriages, and the Americanization of generations and how they interact with older generations.
Since this is a collection of short stories you would be able to read one and put it down easily, without feeling you are in the middle of something. It was so good that I had a hard time putting the book down once I started. The first story is about Ruma whose mother has died and her father comes to visit her in her new home in a new city. It starts with her conflicting emotions about doing the “right” thing and inviting him to live with her. It is the story of a father and a daughter and how complex those relationships can be. Her writing leaves a clear, relatable impression such as this excerpt, “She wanted to tell him how normal it had felt, to have her father there. But she couldn’t bring herself to say the words.” p. 55
The last three short stories are continuations of each other. This made me very happy because after each of the first two I ended the story feeling like I wanted more, so it was wonderful that the next one carried on, just from a different perspective and a different time. It is the story of Hema and Kaushik and how they are brought together as their families are friends and how they end up reuniting later in life. First they talk about their memories of each other and then the story moves to present time.
Everything that I have read by Jhumpa Lahiri I have enjoyed and this was possibly my favorite. If you are looking for something to read it has my recommendation!
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