This collection of short stories, the first publication by Jhumpa Lahiri, lets you know right off the bat that she's not here to go easy on you. In a book informed by life in India and life in the U.S. as an Indian immigrant, it's really, as it almost always is, all about people.
That first story is of a marriage at a crossroads, slumping and trapped by the tragic birth of their child. When Lahiri brings us to the decision point of whether or not the marriage will survive, the resolution is both sad and beautiful.
As I often do in these projects, I go in as blind as I can and then read up on works or creators afterwards, and I read an admission by Lahiri that she found writing a short story easier, or more manageable, to write than a longer novel. By word count, I'd say she's right but, really, a good short story is harder to write than a good novel, I think. There's just no room to hide or time to recover from a misstep.
My other favourites in the set are A Real Durwan and The Treatment of Bibi Haldar.
No comments:
Post a Comment