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Unaccustomed Earth
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780307265739
ISBN: 0307265730
Label: Knopf
Manufacturer: Knopf
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: April 01, 2008
Publisher: Knopf
Release Date: April 01, 2008
Studio: Knopf
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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 with Jhumpa 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
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Pleasant reading
Jhumpa's new collection is pleasant reading alright but lacks the spark that was felt in her "Interpreter of Maladies". She constantly speaks of the routine culture shocks and thereafters of the bengalis from west bengal who migrated to the West. But I must say that the greater diaspora of the majority muslim bengalis and their struggles are all too absent. Also the hard life that the non-previldged bengalis of both varieties faced in the foreign lands are not strongly reflected.
Rating:  - Great stories!
I'm not usually a fan of books of short stories. But the reviews of this one brought me in, and I was not disappointed! For one thing these stories have a strong theme, and in some cases the same characters across stories. And for those who prefer full-length novels, that helps. For another thing the stories "read long." By that I mean, most of the stories left me satisfied at the end, rather than feeling cheated out of a more in-depth development of character, a common effect of books of short ... Read More
Rating: - Engaging
I enjoyed this book. I'm still not clear on if ALL the stories were related- a couple I couldnt tie together, but nonetheless, looked forward to picking this up every night. I'd probably rate it 4.5 stars as its not life changing and I probably wont remember any of these stories in a week, but as a enjoyable leisure-reading, it hit the mark.
Rating: - I love Jhumpa Lahiri's short stories
I thought this book was one of the best collection of short stories that I have read, particularly in the context of an immigrant's perspective.
What I particularly enjoy about Jhumpa is that she writes about ordinary people and examines their tensions and anxieties, their joys and disappointments. Her characters are multi dimensional, and she is able to show that ordinary persons are interesting and even fascinating. In an era when literature, film and media is full of abnormal (improbable) ... Read More
Rating: - Lahirism
I used to think the mid-point between optimism and pessimism was realism--before reading the ineffable work of Jhumpa Lahiri in this collection of short stories. There exists no term for what she achieves in these delicately sliced portions of intersecting lives. It is not that no one accomplishes all that seems possible for them, not that no one is as ultimately afflicted as they could be, although these two outcomes hold true in every tale. It is that her characters and their situations (which include the ... Read More
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