Unaccustomed Earth(Jhumpa Lahiri)
I’m going to start writing about this book now, having finished only the first of the six stories, because otherwise I may forget what my reactions were exactly.
As in her first short story collection,
Interpreter of Maladies, Lahiri writes about people who immigrated to the United States from India, and the next generation, i.e. the first one born in America.
The titular story, Unaccustomed Earth, is about Ruma, mother of a young boy, with another baby on the way. She is married to a nice American man who is frequently away on business trips. Recently, the young family moved to Seattle, putting the whole country between them and Ruma’s father, who lives alone in Pennsylvania after the sudden death of Ruma’s mother in what should have been routine surgery.
In the story, Ruma’s father comes to Seattle for a week to visit his daughter. The two of them cautiously explore the relationship they have now: Ruma’s mother was the focal point of the family for both of them, and now she is no longer there. Ruma has made numerous decisions that complicate the process of her and her father understanding and connecting with each other: her marrying an American, moving across the country, leaving her job as a paralegal to be a full-time mother, her deciding not to teach her young son the language of his grandparents.
But there are also questions concerning her father that cause Ruma to find herself a little baffled as to how to connect with him: what is his life like without her mother now? Does he travel around the world because he genuinely enjoys it, or does it merely help to pass the time? Is he waiting for her to ask him to move in with her, now that he is all alone (which is what any good Indian daughter would be expected do)? Would he actually want to move in with her new family? What would it be like to have him living with them?
All these questions are explored with immense sensitivity and subtlety. In only 60 pages, and in only a few scenes from their daily routine, Lahiri gives us such a clear picture of who these two people are, how they think and feel – there is an amazing understanding of the human psyche on display here.
Even more remarkable is the writing style of the story: Lahiri’s language is very simple and to the point, with moments of tremendous poetry and insight effortlessly interwoven into the very commonplace occurrences. But the truly remarkable thing is the effect her language had on me while reading it. I could feel myself slowing down and calming down every time I read a bit further (and I read the story primarily on public transport on the way to and from work, which are some decidedly un-peaceful conditions). The language drew me in to a degree that shut out my hectic surroundings completely. I was able to feel the characters’ quiet loneliness and melancholia in every word I was reading. I have rarely experienced this drastic effect of language on me as a reader – all I can say is that I am extremely impressed.
Thank you w@w, for giving me that little nudge to read
Unaccustomed Earth – I think I am going to spread the stories out over a longer period, reading other stuff as palate cleanser in between, so that I can experience the full effect of every single one of them.