Unaccustomed Earth

Road trip means listening to books on tape, this one is Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri.  I listened to one of Lahiri’s other books and I found this one to be very similarly written, with the same storyline, same characters, but different results.  This book is a series of short stories, well written and is a great read for those who are not as familiar with the Indian culture and how it is experienced in the United States.  Lahiri’s stories deal with very intelligent characters, doctors, lawyers, accountants, writers, all of whom attend MIT, Yale, Swarthmore, Cornell, Penn and yes, NYU.  It seemed like each description of the lead character started with their educational pedigree and what academic dream they needed to follow (based on what their parent's expectation was for them).  Each character also struggled with expressing their true emotions, must be a theme with Indian culture (although I know a number of native people from India and this is NOT the case), probably not something that folks from India would say is common in their culture?  I’ll have to speak to some of my colleagues on this concept.  Love, lack of intimacy, inability to challenge parent’s dreams, and not learning how to express feelings were consistent in each story.  Parent relationships, girlfriend/boyfriends, and arranged marriages with no feelings towards spouse were explored in the stories.  So many missed opportunities and unreached dreams, Lahiri gives the reader an opportunity to ensure we don’t fall into the same patterns that her characters fall into.  Each of the stories end with a perplexing conclusion, a death, a father who disappears to go to his woman love, an alcoholic brother being ostracized for almost killing his nephew, and the tsunami taking the life of the main character’s true love.  Lahiri’s style is engaging, yet redundant.  I feel like most of the males have an inability to speak honestly about how they feel, women who want to turn from their parents, parents who determine what their children will do with their lives, etc.  I think if you read one story, you get the gist of Lahiri’s writing.  Thanks Jeff (RA who recommended it).  A good read, but again, felt like I had already read this one a few times already….