The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
Curiously I read other reviews of The Lowland after I finished reading the book. I found a mixed bag of likes and dislikes, which I have to admit surprised me. I was not familiar with this author or her other award winning works, the Pulitzer prize in fact, but the storyline of inseparable brothers raised in Calcutta, India, who take opposite paths in their lives, captured my attention.
At first I was unsure if I could stick with The Lowland. It was a story like many I've read before about life in India, a culture that permeates every movement in life. When one of the brothers, Udayan, secretly becomes immersed in a political movement, I became slightly turned off by the subject matter but not the writing. So I kept reading.
The brothers are raised in a middle class neighborhood on a narrow street with a mosque on the corner. They are a Hindu family. The house their parents have built, backs up to the lowlands, an area that floods and dries with the seasons. Subhash heads to America to study away from the turmoil of his home. Udayan stays to fight for his cause and defies his parents by bringing home a wife they do not approve of. The wife, who no one is able to love except Udayan, becomes the center the family's sorrow.
The Lowland is a story of choices defined by the friction created by opposing, deep rooted cultures. The ebb and flow of their lives mirrors the lowland that is the family's foundation. The author's prose is steady, calm and captivating. The Lowland is a book I couldn't put down, stayed up late and woke up early because I had to know where each course of action would lead. Books with that kind of power don't come along very often.
I classify this novel as one that beautifully illustrates the human condition. The human condition shapes who we are as an individual, a family, a society and I am fascinated by it. The Lowland is worth every minute of time spent immersed in the lives of the people living with the rhythm of the lowland.
Curiously I read other reviews of The Lowland after I finished reading the book. I found a mixed bag of likes and dislikes, which I have to admit surprised me. I was not familiar with this author or her other award winning works, the Pulitzer prize in fact, but the storyline of inseparable brothers raised in Calcutta, India, who take opposite paths in their lives, captured my attention.
At first I was unsure if I could stick with The Lowland. It was a story like many I've read before about life in India, a culture that permeates every movement in life. When one of the brothers, Udayan, secretly becomes immersed in a political movement, I became slightly turned off by the subject matter but not the writing. So I kept reading.
The brothers are raised in a middle class neighborhood on a narrow street with a mosque on the corner. They are a Hindu family. The house their parents have built, backs up to the lowlands, an area that floods and dries with the seasons. Subhash heads to America to study away from the turmoil of his home. Udayan stays to fight for his cause and defies his parents by bringing home a wife they do not approve of. The wife, who no one is able to love except Udayan, becomes the center the family's sorrow.
The Lowland is a story of choices defined by the friction created by opposing, deep rooted cultures. The ebb and flow of their lives mirrors the lowland that is the family's foundation. The author's prose is steady, calm and captivating. The Lowland is a book I couldn't put down, stayed up late and woke up early because I had to know where each course of action would lead. Books with that kind of power don't come along very often. I classify this novel as one that beautifully illustrates the human condition. The human condition shapes who we are as an individual, a family, a society and I am fascinated by it. The Lowland is worth every minute of time spent immersed in the lives of the people living with the rhythm of the lowland.
No comments:
Post a Comment