Author:Jhumpa Lahiri Availability:
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Editorial Review:
From the internationally best-selling, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, a superbly crafted new work of fiction: eight stories--longer and more emotionally complex than any she has yet written--that take us from Cambridge and Seattle to India and Thailand as they enter the lives of sisters and brothers, fathers and mothers, daughters and sons, friends and lovers. In the stunning title story, Ruma, a young mother in a new city, is visited by her father, who carefully tends the earth of her garden, where he and his grandson form a special bond. But he's harboring a secret from his daughter, a love affair he's keeping all to himself. In "A Choice of Accommodations," a husband's attempt to turn an old friend's wedding into a romantic getaway weekend with his wife takes a dark, revealing turn as the party lasts deep into the night. In "Only Goodness," a sister eager to give her younger brother the perfect childhood she never had is overwhelmed by guilt, anguish, and anger when his alcoholism threatens her family. And in "Hema and Kaushik," a trio of linked stories--a luminous, intensely compelling elegy of life, death, love, and fate--we follow the lives of a girl and boy who, one winter, share a house in Massachusetts. They travel from innocence to experience on separate, sometimes painful paths, until destiny brings them together again years later in Rome. Unaccustomed Earth is rich withJhumpa Lahiri's signature gifts: exquisite prose, emotional wisdom, and subtle renderings of the most intricate workings of the heart and mind. It is a masterful, dazzling work of a writer at the peak of her powers.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Unaccustomed Earth:
My wife has read this book. She noemally does not like the short-story approach, but this one she thought was very good. We have some friends that were in the same situation and the book really tells the story of trheir problems.
Good Book with Desis and ABCD's emotions:
This book has multiple stories and each deals with different stages of Desi's life interwined with their American Born Confused Desis(ABCD) or American lived Confused Desis (ALCD) life. The story "Unaccustomed Earth" deals with the life of an Old Indian man who is settled in America and tries to be live a single independant American life where as his ABCD daughter wants him to be with her as a typical indian culture. Then the most notable story deals with the rude awakening of the fact that even... more info
Excellent Book:
I don't read much fiction. I made an exception to my usual reading fare after watching The Namesake movie a really long time ago. I actually intended to pick up The Namesake, but seeing it was sold out settled on Unaccustomed Earth. Jhumpa Lahiri can do things with words that I can only dream about. Fiction and non-fiction, I thought this was the best book I read in 2008. I thought I would dislike short stories. Many times they give too few details and the stories become easily forgotten. These... more info
So rich: like a collection of mini novels:
I am not usually a reader of short stories, but this book defied many of my prejudices. I loved it. Jhumpa Lahiri's writing is beautiful. With just a few paragraphs, she can immerse you in a story so that you end up feeling as satisfied as if you've read an entire novel. She also has a wonderful eye for detail and a way of describing everyday events or objects so you feel that you've never really thought about them in that way before. There are eight stories in this book. The final three feature the... more info
