Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 196
 Unaccostomed Earth November 9, 2009
Beth Hall (san diego,ca)
This is a wonderful read. It gives a view of Bengali culture far beyond any book I have read. We are reading it for our book club and I will be interested to hear what others have to say.
Beautifully Sad.... October 24, 2009
Sarah Chaudhary (Los Angeles, CA)
I think this may be her best work yet. She completely and effortlessly drew me into the emotional worlds of her characters. I grew attached to them, triumphing in their victories and anguishing in their heartbreaks. The stories all had a sad air about them and there were no happy endings in a traditional sense, which made for a bittersweet read. As for the critics who claim Lahiri is just offering up "more of the same" cross cultural stereotypes, I think these powerful stories actually transcend race, gender, and class, and present universal themes of grief, loss, and familial and romantic love that can be appreciated by all. Although she might revisit some underlying issues from her previous works, these tales stand alone as works of pure art.
 A particular culture, but universal struggles October 20, 2009
N. B. Kennedy (Hopewell, NJ USA)
I neglected to pick up this book for the longest time, thinking I would have little interest in cross-cultural struggles of which I've had no experience. But, truthfully, as a reader, you need only have had experience with parents, siblings, boyfriends or girlfriends or any friends at all, to appreciate the stories in this book.
In particular, I was charmed by the title story, that of a father who visits his married daughter and his grandson. The father has a secret, and the daughter has a dilemma. The story is narrated from both of their points of view, and both are utterly sympathetic characters. The daughter's thoughts are so universal to the human experience, regardless of culture, that they struck me as utterly true. For example: "Even with Akash [her son] to care for, part of her was beginning to prefer the solitude, without Adam [her husband] hovering around, full of concern about her state of mind, her mood."
The other stories did not grip me as fully; perhaps because most of them concern young lovers and their dramas. It's just my time of life, I suppose, that makes the relationship between parents and their adult children (and husbands and wives) more interesting to me.
But all of the stories are compelling, and the language spare and beautiful. I rarely read fiction, but have always loved the short story form, because the brevity forces an author to pare down events and emotions to their essential core. I also appreciated Ms. Lahiri's understated characters; they seemed like real people to me. I recently read Lorrie Moore's A Gate at the Stairs and was frustrated with the outlandish characters who populated that book. Few writers show the restraint that Ms. Lahiri does. For some readers, that translates into boredom; for me, it is a pathway to engagement.
Great book! October 2, 2009
Bob (Boston, MA USA)
A fantastic set of short stories that deal with people who have transplanted themselves in the United States.
Lyrical and Rich October 1, 2009
mcryan
Lahiri's prose is melodious and full. Her characters are gently coaxed into the light. She weaves a unique tapestry of interconnected stories and by the end, they all come together as one. Not everyone may be a fan but I would recommend this book to anyone. Her style is original.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 196
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