Jhumpa Lahiri
The good part is that the usual characters are all present – Kolkata, Boston, melancholy, wistfulness. The better part is that Jhumpa Lahiri is in top form. I was a bit disappointed with the last book so I started this with a skeptical mindset, but am extremely glad to have been proved wrong.
The story spans about four generations, beginning in the 1950s and ending in contemporary times. What is interesting is that, though at least a couple of the characters seem easy enough to slot into standard stereotypes – a Naxalite moved by his milieu into embracing a fiery ideology, and his brother who moves to the US and becomes the immigrant absorbed in scientific research building a new life in an alien country, the author takes them beyond that in the story arc, giving them depth and layers.
One wonders whether it is the story of Udayan whose influence in the lives of the characters extend far beyond his death, or that of Subhash and the women in his life – a mother disappointed by his choice, a wife who never loved him as he wished she would, and a daughter whom he raised but is not his own. Or is it really the story of Gauri, and her journey which seems to be played out in a real as well as philosophical level? “Plato says that the purpose of philosophy is to teach us how to die.” Between these three, the author travels the spectrum of human nature – from its most benevolent to its most selfish. The Lowland is the stretch of land between two ponds – probably also symbolising the two brothers and Gauri. (more…)