Discriminating Reader

Some of the stories from Jhumpa Lahiri's story collection Unaccustomed Earth still haunt me, so I was eager to immerse myself in her most recent novel, The Lowland. This book opens in a village outside of Calcutta in the late 60s, with two brothers Subhash and Udyan who live just outside the wall of an exclusive golf club. While Udyan becomes involved in the political movement Naxilism, Subhash moves to the United States for his education, and their lives take diverse paths.

Lahiri present the narrative from the points of view of Udyan, his wife Gauri, widowed after Udyan's involvement leads to his death, and Bela, their child he never knew, but the older brother Subhash remains the main focus of the story.

After finishing school, Subhash remains in Rhode Island, rarely returning to his childhood home and failing to live up to his parents' expectations. Instead, he marries Gauri to save her from her secluded live with his disapproving parents and raises his brother's daughter as his own child.

Since much of the story takes place in the United States during the Vietnam war, readers may be surprised to realize that the unrest in India at the same time failed to register on the American consciousness. Lahiri weaves a story steeped in diverse cultures, yet produces characters with universal struggles--coming to terms with disappointment in others and oneself, telling and accepting truth, finding love.

The story with its embedded flashbacks comes together like a puzzle, and despite all the personal conflict between the characters, Lahiri draws them with such shades of dark and light that readers don't have to choose sides. I found myself wishing redemption for them all.