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Readers Long For More From Short Stories

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By NANDINI BANDYOPADHYAY

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 18, 2008

"Unaccustomed Earth," by Jhumpa Lahiri (Alfred A Knopf, $25)

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri's latest collection of short stories once again is sure to enchant her readers. Her eye for details and perception of the subtle conflicts and dualities of her characters make it easy for readers to establish a connection with them.

All the stories have second-generation immigrants as their protagonists, and it is essentially their relationship with their parents, siblings or fellow immigrants that forms the main frame. There are eight stories separated into two parts, with five in the first part and three with the same characters in the second.

In the title story, "Unaccustomed Earth," Ruma, a lawyer, tries to come to terms with her mother's unexpected death, moving to an unfamiliar place and awaiting the birth of her second child. A visit from her father, her relationship with him, the alienation she feels from him and the bond they later develop are poignant, with heart-rending details.

Her father tends to her fallow garden and bonds with his grandson, Akash, which fosters a stronger relationship with Ruma. The irony of the story is her realization that her father has moved on with his life while she has yet to come to terms with the loss of her mother.

At the end, readers learn there is a glimmer of hope that she has started to move on, too.

In the story "Hell-Heaven," Lahiri portrays a typical scenario of an immigrant student looking for a familiar surrounding in a foreign country. The story is told in the first person by Usha, a witness to a developing relationship between her parents, especially her mother, with a young graduate student, Pranab.

Pranab, lonely and desperate for companionship with Indians, befriends Usha and her mother when he hears his native language, Bengali, being exchanged and becomes part of Usha's extended family. Pranab later falls in love and marries an American girl, Deborah, alienating himself from his surrogate family and thus breaking Usha's mother's heart.

Twenty-three years later, after Pranab commits adultery with a married woman and divorces Deborah, we find Deborah confiding to Usha's mother about his betrayal. What Usha's mother never reveals to Deborah is that she had contemplated suicide after she heard about Pranab's decision to marry Deborah.

In "Only Goodness," Lahiri writes about the bonds shared by siblings and a sister dealing with an alcoholic brother. In the first sentence, we learn how Sudha feels guilty about introducing Rahul to his first experience with alcohol. Later, when he has started to go downhill, we see her displaying the natural instinct to protect him, even though she is torn between conflicting emotions.

It is not until much later in the story that we realize, along with Sudha, that the trust is broken after he strays irrevocably.

In "Choice of Accommodation" and "Nobody's Business," we see Lahiri's keen insights into individual psyches. In "Choice of Accommodations," we notice how a friend's marriage that Amit and Megan had thought would be a weekend getaway becomes so much more about their personal disconnection with each other.

In "Nobody's Business," an apparently happy and intelligent girl named Sang is constantly bugged by her Indian suitors and falls prey to an abusive relationship with an Egyptian man.

In the second part, Lahiri writes a trio of stories about Hema and Kaushik. In "Once in a Lifetime," they are in their teens.Kaushik and his parents have come back to the United States from India after seven years, and both the families spend a winter together. Hema's slight crush on Kaushik and her awe of his parents are portrayed vividly along with Kaushik's reticence and longing to be back in India.

The other stories follow them into their futures.

Lahiri's distinctive prose style captures our attention in this anthology. She has a unique way of untangling the tenuous threads of human minds. The longing to know more about characters makes a short story successful, and she has excelled at that once again.

Nandini Bandyopadhyay is a freelancer who lives in Tampa.

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