An emotional Indulgence

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

While I was rating the book, I asked myself again, was it the origin of the author and thus the emotions in those stories, that touched me?!

I realise however, that it would not be justified to pose a "why I liked it" before accepting that I indeed liked it enough.. so the rating..


While taking us through some wonderfully positioned(both geographically and sentimentally) places(places touched with absolute justice) the book presents the idea of our emotional plane, though affected by our origins,

removed from the geographical expanse, constrained and manipulated only by our feelings, thoughts and experiences.


The author again and again gets into the theme of loss, one way or the other. While I don't like reading sad stories, maybe I came across this book at a time when I was happy enough to let the story be just that. But I am more inclined to believe, that the story is written weaving loss as a part of our lives. That the people carry on and live despite however great their pains had been. The beauty of the stories is in the ability to balance the act of life and its opportunities despite of whatever one had to forfeit. They are not a judgement on nature's cruelty to leave us bereft of love but a factual image of how things can turn out.


Enjoyed this indulgence!



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