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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
Have enjoyed it, but not as special as I would expect a Pulitzer prize winner would be. Enjoyable nevertheless and a fairly quick read. Don't have any favourite story, I've actually forgotten them already.
Audio, very well performed.
I have to admit that I didn't enjoy it at first, or maybe that was the first story that didn't really have any levity at all. But then the others really grew on me. It really is a remarkable set to publish together. The characters are mostly from India or expatriates living in the US and there is a slight magical feel to them.
If you choose to read a couple, then my favourites were "This Blessed House" and "The Third and Final Continent".
I have to admit that I didn't enjoy it at first, or maybe that was the first story that didn't really have any levity at all. But then the others really grew on me. It really is a remarkable set to publish together. The characters are mostly from India or expatriates living in the US and there is a slight magical feel to them.
If you choose to read a couple, then my favourites were "This Blessed House" and "The Third and Final Continent".
I could not put this book down. This collection of stories manages to feel literary and unpretentious at the same time, feeling engaging for any reader while also leaving those who search for depth with a lot to interpret and mediate on.
As an eternal optimist, I have to look at the modern dearth in interest in short stories as a way to verify that those which do get published are definitely worth reading. In the old days, everyone was printing short stories left and right and most of them weren't worth reading; nowadays, no one prints short stories anywhere, but the ones you can find (especially in a binding!) are pretty much guaranteed to be worth reading. Once upon a time, greats like Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, and Kurt Vonnegut might never have landed novel deals without proving themselves in the short story market. No one seems to be interested in printing short stories anymore but authors like Alice Munro, Jhumpa Lahiri, and George Saunders seem to be proving that there is always going to be a place for short stories. I hope the form never goes away.
These stories all revolve around Indian experiences. Sometimes these are experiences in India, sometimes they are migrant experiences, and sometimes they are multigenerational migrant stories. In each of these spaces, Lahiri does an incredible job of painting a wholly immersive experience for the reader. She does such an excellent job of making foreign experiences wholly accessible to anyone. Some of her scenarios feel kind of cliché in their premises, but she is always able to make us feel the character's experiences deeply and she leaves most of her tales so open-ended that even a seemingly straightforward concept ends up open to wide interpretation.
Perhaps part of my enchantment with her writing lies in having personally traveled to India and in knowing Indian friends and their customs well. I'm not good at imagining foreign scenarios and locations, but I didn't have trouble with the sensual descriptions of distant locations or the Indian customs which can seem so out of place in a setting like Boston. I have felt the enchantments and confusions of immersive cross-cultural experiences. I have contemplated the arranged marriages of those I personally know. Lahiri has a tendency to partner cultural experiences with romance in the ways that they both seem magical and yet have a way of disappointing, and those constant parallels spoke deeply throughout the work. She sees romantic relationships and place in culture similarly, and her explorations leave one feeling well known, even if no straightforward answers can be offered.
As an eternal optimist, I have to look at the modern dearth in interest in short stories as a way to verify that those which do get published are definitely worth reading. In the old days, everyone was printing short stories left and right and most of them weren't worth reading; nowadays, no one prints short stories anywhere, but the ones you can find (especially in a binding!) are pretty much guaranteed to be worth reading. Once upon a time, greats like Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, and Kurt Vonnegut might never have landed novel deals without proving themselves in the short story market. No one seems to be interested in printing short stories anymore but authors like Alice Munro, Jhumpa Lahiri, and George Saunders seem to be proving that there is always going to be a place for short stories. I hope the form never goes away.
These stories all revolve around Indian experiences. Sometimes these are experiences in India, sometimes they are migrant experiences, and sometimes they are multigenerational migrant stories. In each of these spaces, Lahiri does an incredible job of painting a wholly immersive experience for the reader. She does such an excellent job of making foreign experiences wholly accessible to anyone. Some of her scenarios feel kind of cliché in their premises, but she is always able to make us feel the character's experiences deeply and she leaves most of her tales so open-ended that even a seemingly straightforward concept ends up open to wide interpretation.
Perhaps part of my enchantment with her writing lies in having personally traveled to India and in knowing Indian friends and their customs well. I'm not good at imagining foreign scenarios and locations, but I didn't have trouble with the sensual descriptions of distant locations or the Indian customs which can seem so out of place in a setting like Boston. I have felt the enchantments and confusions of immersive cross-cultural experiences. I have contemplated the arranged marriages of those I personally know. Lahiri has a tendency to partner cultural experiences with romance in the ways that they both seem magical and yet have a way of disappointing, and those constant parallels spoke deeply throughout the work. She sees romantic relationships and place in culture similarly, and her explorations leave one feeling well known, even if no straightforward answers can be offered.
This book is an excellent collection of stories, snippets of genuine lives around the world. Lahiri’s ability to make the ordinary into important literature always amazes me.
Lovely stories. The first one nearly broke me; it was so familiar.
Themes of dislocation, culture clash, isolation abound in this collection which holds up strong 20 years later. I liked the first and last, and titular story, the best. I always have such a hard time reviewing short stories....it's too easy to spoil them. I guess ultimately though this is a strongly written collection ,you can tell the writer is very confident and in control with the direction each story takes, and I would certainly recommend this collection.
A fascinating collection of stories that feel... incredibly human, is the only way I can really think to describe it.
I don't usually read short stories but I made an exception since this won the Pulitzer. Lahiri is an amazing writer. Every story was so vivid. I only wish they were all longer so I could get to know everyone better and know all their stories.
Jhumpa Lahiri understands human beings like few others. These stories are small in scope, but large in human emotion and connection. Women who don't quite fit in their life circumstances is a recurring theme. Very few "happy" endings, but every one was satisfying. This will stick with me for a while.