Unaccustomed Earth by Lahiri Jhumpa

Not even the most monotonous lives can escape drama. Indeed, all monotony tends to the high-flying emotions involved with love, hate, joy, sadness and regret in Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth, a collection of contemporary short stories about life, and living.

Summary of the Book

Unaccustomed Earth, both the title of the book and a short story in the collection, refers to the world that has not yet grown used to the tremors that flow underneath it. Ms. Lahiri speaks of a world constantly under barrage by natural and man-wrought tremors, an Earth, she says, that our ancestors would never recognize. These stories deal with Indian-Americans questioning their privileged lives. Ms. Lahiri's writing flows with her emotions and continues to carry her readers alongside. Eight stories in all, divided into two parts, the collection follows similar characters, down-to-earth and utterly human in their desires. The titular story follows Ruma, a young Indian housewife who moves to Seattle and puts her own career on hold for the demands of a familial life. Her recently widowed father joins her family and although Ruma thinks she will have to baby sit him, Ms. Lahiri shows that she is mistaken. The second half of the collection moves on to more longer stories, offering readers a chance to read novella-length stories such as Going Ashore, a story told from the perspective of neither protagonist, yet showing how both meet decades after their childhood.

About Jhumpa Lahiri

Jhumpa Lahiri is an Indian American writer. She is well known for her collection of short-stories: Interpreter of Maladies, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize, and for her full-length novels: The Namesake and The Lowland.

Ms. Lahiri was appointed a member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities by Barack Obama. The Lowland was nominated for the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Award For Fiction. The Namesake has since been adapted into a film of the same name.