Unaccustomed Earth - Softcover

Lahiri, Jhumpa

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0307472140 ISBN 13: 9780307472144

Publisher: Vintage, 2009

Synopsis

Beginning in America, and spilling back over memories and generations to India, Unaccustomed Earth follows new lives forged in the wake of loss. These are stories in which deeply sympathetic characters reach pivotal moments in their frayed relationships and are forced to navigate their way in unfamiliar landscapes. In the title story the death of a mother leaves a space neither daughter nor husband knows how to fill. In 'Only Goodness' a younger brother's spiralling alcoholism threatens to destroy his loyal sister's family. And in a trio of linked stories we follow the lives of a girl and boy who, one memorable winter, share a house in suburban Massachusetts. They travel from innocence to experience on separate, sometimes painful paths, until they are brought together years later in a chance meeting in Rome. With moving compassion Lahiri traces a series of transformations: weariness into hope, secrets into sacrifices, and grief into unforeseen love. Eight luminous stories - longer and richer than any she has yet written - explore the heart of family life and the immigrant experience, taking us from America to Europe, India and Thailand. Infused with eloquent warmth and lyrical simplicity, Unaccustomed Earth confirms Jhumpa Lahiri's status as a storyteller of unrivalled empathy.

About this title

Review:

'Splendid . . . Reading her stories is like watching time-lapse nature videos of different plants, each with its own inherent growth cycle, breaking through the soil, spreading into bloom or collapsing back to earth.' -- The New York Times Book Review (April 2008)

"Lahiri is probably the most influential writer of fiction in America... 'Going Ashore' is perhaps the saddest story Lahiri has ever written - and yet you finish it feeling uplifted by the artistry and mastery of her technique." -- Jason Cowley, Financial Times, June 7 2008.

'Lahiri sees the entire arc of life, as characters plant themselves in an idea of home then fly off again' -- Lorrie Moore

'Lahiri's finely drawn prose makes [Unaccustomed Earth] feel less like reading and more like peering into the most raw, intimate moments of people's lives.' -- Marie Claire (April 2008)

'Peripatetic, sweeping stories - Lahiri's best yet'
-- Vogue (April 2008)

'Reading her stories is hypnotizing-like falling into a dream where colors are brighter, smells sharper and time moves more slowly than in real life.' -- People (April 2008)

'Unaccustomed Earth defied publishing industry wisdom that says short stories don't make the bestseller lists, and no wonder'
-- Daily Telegraph - Books of 2008

Almost every story is exquisitely crafted, beautifully told. -- Telegraph Review, May 31st 2008

Confidently wonderful collection. -- Sunday Times Culture Magazine, June 1 2008

It is difficult to think of a contemporary writer who gives her characters so much dignity. Like the greatest short story writers, Lahiri revels inner lives by holding back so much.
-- The Times, Saturday May 24th 2008

About the Author:

Jhumpa Lahiri was born in London of Bengali parents, and grew up in Rhode Island, USA. Her stories have appeared in many American journals and her first collection, Interpreter of Maladies, won the Pulitzer Prize 2000 for Fiction, the New Yorker Prize for Best First Book, the PEN/Hemingway Award and was shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Award. Her novel, The Namesake, was published in 2003 and is now a major motion picture from the director of Monsoon Wedding. Jhumpa Lahiri lives in New York with her husband and two children.

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0307472140
• ISBN 13: 9780307472144
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 352