the lowland by jhumpa lahiri book review

Growing up in Calcutta, born just fifteen months apart, Subhash and Udayan Mitra are inseparable brothers, one often mistaken for the other. The lowland, a small plot of land that floods during monsoons and houses the neighborhood debris and yet life for Tollygunge boys surrounds this pond which is witness to memories that have pooled up for years.

Running through decades and stretched over a vast expanse from West Bengal in India to Rhode Island in the United States, this is a heart-wrenching tale of love, life, family, sacrifices and more. The Lowland is the story of Subhash, Udayan, and Gauri. I mean I could scribble down pages but then that would seem cruelly overdone. The same sickly-sweet tugging feeling that leaves your heart slightly rattled. Like a friend said, “ If it is a Lahiri book, it has to be 5 stars and maybe more from you even before you’ve finished it.” I’m not surprised.Ībout reviewing Lahiri’s latest book, the Man Booker prize nominee, The Lowland, I am torn between doing it the right way and doing it the best way. Having read all of her books, I sometimes feel, I am too prejudiced. With Lahiri’s books, I have always experienced this poignant feeling. Books that you eagerly wait for like that distant music which falls on the ears, so sweet yet agonizing and wants you to get closer and feel it, revel in it. Then some others because everyone else has read it but you, and then there are those books that you read because you know that somewhere between the pages, you will remain forever. There are few books you read because you are addicted to reading.

The lowland by jhumpa lahiri book review