Unaccustomed Earth (Vintage Contemporaries)

Staff Pick

Unaccustomed Earth is in many ways a deeply and authentically sad book. I would not advise reading the stories too quickly; they will each haunt you for days afterward (and, unusually in a collection like this, they are all equally strong). But Lahiri's prose is worth it; her work is masterful, confident, and timeless, and this gorgeously written collection of stories is her strongest fiction yet.
Recommended by Jill Owens, Powells.com

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cad56, January 29, 2011 (view all comments by cad56)
Jhumpa Lahiri is one of may favorite authors - she makes the immigrant experience understandable and interesting. The stories in this book are terrific.

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mandylea6, October 17, 2009 (view all comments by mandylea6)
Truly beautiful and devastating. Jhumpa Lahiri's writing effects my heart like few authors are able to.

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Chris Horne, April 20, 2009 (view all comments by Chris Horne)
Finishing this collection of carefully wrought and longish short stories was bittersweet. Lahari is a master of character study, and it's difficult to believe she's still a young woman. Her descriptions of her multigenerational, mostly Bengali immigrant, characters felt intimate and usually sympathetic. The details may be Indian, but the emotions are universal. I can't think of any writer today who can so closely render the complicated interactions of adults and their offspring.

Two things are remarkable about these stories. One is the way she moves around from one point of view to another quite easily so that we see a situation from the standpoints of several characters. Lahiri switches smoothly in and out of various perspectives until she has rendered a little gem of a tale.

The second remarkable characteristic is the way she ends a story. It's not the classic O Henry ending where there's a twist that catches you by surprise and may not make sense entirely but what I think of now as a Lahiri ending, a devastating insight that takes your breath away. There's not an unsatisfying conclusion in any of the eight stories that make up this collection.

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Product Details

ISBN:

9780307278258

Author:

Lahiri, Jhumpa

Publisher:

Vintage Books

Author:

Lahiri, Jhumpa

Subject:

Short Stories (single author)

Subject:

Short stories

Subject:

Bengali Americans

Subject:

Stories (single author)

Subject:

Literature-A to Z

Copyright:

2009

Edition Description:

Trade paper

Series:

Vintage Contemporaries

Publication Date:

20090431

Binding:

TRADE PAPER

Grade Level:

General/trade

Language:

English

Pages:

352

Dimensions:

7.92x5.30x.78 in. .56 lbs.