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aaditya_jain482's review
3.0
The Lowland is a historical fiction centered around the Naxal movement in Bengal in the late 60's and early 70's. Following two brothers Shubhash and Udayan born just a couple of years before independence the bond they share and the striking differences in their personality, leading them to pursue very different paths at the dawn of adulthood half a globe away from each other but never apart their fates intertwined forever.
The failed movement and its effects on the people associated to it is discribed beautifully, the author describes every scene meticulously even to the point of overwhelming the reader with the amount of details of the surrounding helping to better imagine the scenes.
Evey important event and transition in time is filled with strong emotions described beautifully, having characters that one would grow empathetic towards
My main issue from the book would be the lack of time its spends upon the naxal movement and the people directly involved in bengal itself while spending much more time in US despite the storie continuing till 2010's the movement is long forgotten and its effects reduced to single personal catastrophe, there are couple of moments near the last couple of chapters where it feels like the past migt be revisited to unearth the reality to be better explored but they are left unfulfilled.
Overall a nice book encompassing the Bengal famine, partition of India rise of CPI(ML) to life in the contemporary US visiting bengal briefly in the end in the new millennium, i was first assumed it to be sympathetic to the cause of the armed rebels but it isn't while acknowledging the faultlines of india in the end its doesn't feel indicitive or inclined.
The failed movement and its effects on the people associated to it is discribed beautifully, the author describes every scene meticulously even to the point of overwhelming the reader with the amount of details of the surrounding helping to better imagine the scenes.
Evey important event and transition in time is filled with strong emotions described beautifully, having characters that one would grow empathetic towards
My main issue from the book would be the lack of time its spends upon the naxal movement and the people directly involved in bengal itself while spending much more time in US despite the storie continuing till 2010's the movement is long forgotten and its effects reduced to single personal catastrophe, there are couple of moments near the last couple of chapters where it feels like the past migt be revisited to unearth the reality to be better explored but they are left unfulfilled.
Overall a nice book encompassing the Bengal famine, partition of India rise of CPI(ML) to life in the contemporary US visiting bengal briefly in the end in the new millennium, i was first assumed it to be sympathetic to the cause of the armed rebels but it isn't while acknowledging the faultlines of india in the end its doesn't feel indicitive or inclined.
tilikon's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
atenelli's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
hilaryannbrown's review
4.0
This took me a while to get into, but I was hanging on every word by the end. I'll be thinking about this story for a long time.
book_concierge's review
4.0
From the book jacket: Born just fifteen months apart, Subhash and Udayan are inseparable brothers, one often mistaken for the other in the Calcutta neighborhood where they grow up. But they are also opposites, with gravely different futures ahead. It is the 1960s, and Udayan – charismatic and impulsive – finds himself drawn to the Naxalite movement, a rebellion waged to eradicate inequity and poverty; he will give everything, risk all, for what he believes. Subhash, the dutiful son, does not share his brother’s political passion; he leaves home to pursue a life of scientific research in a quiet, coastal corner of America.
My reactions
This is a dense, character-driven story, that explores both the immigrant experience and the relationships between family members. Spanning decades, we watch these characters muddle through life, changing their goals and expectations as tragedy or joy, opportunity or obstacle comes up. No one wants to make these kinds of decisions, but sometimes life forces us to do so. In this way we can all relate to the characters. And yet, their experience is very different from my own, and while I feel for their plight, I’m not sure I understand them. And I definitely do not like a few of them.
The story is not linear; Lahiri uses flashbacks as characters remember past events or wonder about what might have happened. It is never recognized as such, but clearly several of them are suffering from PTSD, doing what they can to hide from the world and avoid further pain (a strategy which, of course, does not work).
Lahiri writes beautifully, and I kept marking passages. She has a gift for putting the reader into the setting with her descriptions. One can feel the heat and humidity of Calcutta, smell the fresh briny scent on the breeze of a Rhode Island beach, hear the sounds of a morning ritual, and taste the food served. Her characters observe what is going on around them and their hesitancy or surprise when encountering new experiences, made me look at my familiar surroundings with new eyes. For example:
The main doors were almost always left open, held in place by large rocks. The locks on the apartment doors were flimsy, little buttons on knobs instead of padlocks and bolts. But she was in a place where no one was afraid to walk about, where drunken students stumbled laughing down a hill, back to their dormitories at all hours of the night. At the top of the hill was the campus police station. But there were no curfews or lockdowns. Students came and went and did as they pleased.
I so wish this was a book-club selection, because I long to discuss it with someone.
My reactions
This is a dense, character-driven story, that explores both the immigrant experience and the relationships between family members. Spanning decades, we watch these characters muddle through life, changing their goals and expectations as tragedy or joy, opportunity or obstacle comes up. No one wants to make these kinds of decisions, but sometimes life forces us to do so. In this way we can all relate to the characters. And yet, their experience is very different from my own, and while I feel for their plight, I’m not sure I understand them. And I definitely do not like a few of them.
The story is not linear; Lahiri uses flashbacks as characters remember past events or wonder about what might have happened. It is never recognized as such, but clearly several of them are suffering from PTSD, doing what they can to hide from the world and avoid further pain (a strategy which, of course, does not work).
Lahiri writes beautifully, and I kept marking passages. She has a gift for putting the reader into the setting with her descriptions. One can feel the heat and humidity of Calcutta, smell the fresh briny scent on the breeze of a Rhode Island beach, hear the sounds of a morning ritual, and taste the food served. Her characters observe what is going on around them and their hesitancy or surprise when encountering new experiences, made me look at my familiar surroundings with new eyes. For example:
The main doors were almost always left open, held in place by large rocks. The locks on the apartment doors were flimsy, little buttons on knobs instead of padlocks and bolts. But she was in a place where no one was afraid to walk about, where drunken students stumbled laughing down a hill, back to their dormitories at all hours of the night. At the top of the hill was the campus police station. But there were no curfews or lockdowns. Students came and went and did as they pleased.
I so wish this was a book-club selection, because I long to discuss it with someone.
mayawinshell's review
5.0
so good. so sad. so much love and interiority. it’s as ambivalent about revolutionary violence and its consequences as i tend to feel, so it was interesting food for thought. really brings anonymous violence and loss down to a personal, intimate scale, showing how to the revolution or to the cops, it’s just one comrade martyred or one enemy snuffed—but to a family it’s total devastation. i feel like it makes you ask: was any of the cause worth it? if this is what we’re left with—this grief, this fallout, echoing through generations? and is asking if it was worth it even useful when nothing can be undone?
i loved the loving father of this story… he’s so sweet. wiping the dust off the box fan blades and screwing the front back on just so it would be fresh and ready for his adult daughter’s brief stay at home again got me choooked up. love
i loved the loving father of this story… he’s so sweet. wiping the dust off the box fan blades and screwing the front back on just so it would be fresh and ready for his adult daughter’s brief stay at home again got me choooked up. love
dewey_scrapper's review
4.0
The book started out slow, so I was a little skeptical. I ended up enjoying it immensely.
aditipraveen's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
gorgeous novel. a stunning depiction of political violence in india and the resulting human lives it touches.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence