Jhumpa Lahiri first broke the literary scene with her Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Interpreter of Maladies, in 2000. Since then, she has come out every time with gripping tales on Bengali immigrants’ lives in America, hoping to try and make us understand what it is what like for them during these trying times.
In this collection, Lahiri writes short stories about the life of Bengalis who have immigrated from their native country of India and have settled in another country to form a new life. Some struggle to form their identities alongside people of other nationalities, while some have found no problems adjusting to a new life. It’s hard to write about the life of a particular nationality because sometimes words get lost in translation, and readers have a hard time picturing other people in their minds. But with Lahiri, she not only describes her people perfectly but she depicts them in a certain way that makes her readers be able to relate to her characters.
In her second book and first published novel, The Namesake, which was adapted into a movie released by Fox Searchlight Pictures in 2007, she carefully illustrates the lives of Bengali immigrants, how they survived, how they were able to provide for their family (second-generation immigrants) and how their children have adjusted to their lives as not-quite Americans and not-quite Bengalis. With The Namesake, Lahiri leaves her readers a little confused. Should they relate to the characters, or are they allowed to judge the characters? As readers, we try to understand their lives but it’s hard when the characters don’t seem to know what they’re doing also. It all may be very subtle, and that’s what Lahiri showed in The Namesake. There always will be that inner struggle as immigrants.
In her latest book, Unaccustomed Earth, Lahiri goes back to what she does and releases another collection of short stories, this time dealing with second-generation Bengali immigrants and how to adjust to a new situation, losing someone in their lives. This book is definitely a page-turner with a constant struggle to try to relate and understand the characters. Sometimes, we forget that they’re a different nationality because she makes it seem as if it’s our own struggles.
If you haven’t read a Jhumpa Lahiri book, try grabbing a copy at the bookstore or library now because it comes highly recommended.
