The Lowland: National Book Award Finalist; Man Booker Prize Finalist (Vintage Contemporaries)

The political unrest of a city comes squarely inside the home of a young man when his younger brother (who is also his best friend) gets involved. Life takes the brothers, once inseparable, on two radically different paths but the older brother comes home after tragedy strikes, and he makes a choice that will alter his path once again—this time irrevocably. Jhumpa Lahiri’s mastery of prose and expression come through in her latest novel, The Lowland.Growing up in Calcutta in the 1960s, Subhash and Udayan, brothers and best friends, spend their childhoods almost as the same person. Born just 15 months apart, they look enough alike for people to mistake one for the other, often in passing, sometimes by name. They support one another through all their boyhood exploits and educational attempts, even studying at the same table night after night and coaching one another in their respective courses. But when the boys get accepted to different colleges, Udayan, the more daring and carefree of the brothers, begins mingling with a far different set of friends.Subhash proceeds with his studies and tries to understand his brother’s new ideologies, but it becomes difficult to keep pace with Udayan. Udayan sets his sights on revolution, on change. In the mid-1960s in a small town called Naxalbari in the Indian state of West Bengal, farmers raise their voices and their fists against the injustice of giving up the very crops they till to the landowners and anyone else wielding power. The uprising sparks a revolution and renewed vigor in the Communist sects of the state, and the sentiments reach Calcutta and the suburb of Tollygunge where Subhash and Udayan’s family lives.Udayan falls head over heels into the revolution; Subhash, uncomfortable with it all and also focused on a different goal, travels to the United States for higher studies. Despite the thousands of miles separating them, Subhash’s thoughts stay with his brother. When Udayan writes that he has gotten married, Subhash thinks his little brother has shifted priorities. But a telegram declares otherwise, bringing Subhash back to Calcutta. He meets Udayan’s young attractive wife, Gauri, and does what he thinks is right, but Gauri’s own ambiguity regarding the revolution ultimately undoes the relationships that once commanded Subhash and Udayan’s lives.Whether in short story or novel form, author Jhumpa Lahiri’s way with words dominates every single page. Her most consistent quality exudes her greatest strength in writing: every single story she has written projects quietude. Lahiri uses mostly narration to deliver her stories, keeping the dialogue to a minimum. In the hands of a less accomplished writer, this device would certainly doom any plot and its characters. When Lahiri proceeds to tell a story with this method, the effect leaves the reader astounded. The story stays with a person long after s/he closes the back cover or turns off the e-reader.The only complaint I would have of Lahiri is the long gap between each of her books, but the wait most certainly is worth it. One can almost feel the measured pace with which she writes, the unhurried speed that allows the story to move forward as it needs to. As I’ve done in the past with her other books, I highly recommend The Lowland for anyone who loves literary fiction. Not only does it offer a bit of history less well-known outside of India, but also it gives book lovers another reason to believe in the power of the written word.

In this well-developed novel of family relationships, which is also a love story and a story of betrayal on several levels, author Jhumpa Lahiri introduces four generations of one family whose history begins in Tollygunge, outside of Calcutta, and then moves off in many different directions before settling finally in Rhode Island. Traveling back and forth in time, with points of view shifting among several different but interrelated characters, the novel creates an impressionistic picture of events which begin in 1967 with a political uprising in India, the family effects of which continue into the present. Two brothers, only fifteen months apart in age, become linchpins of the novel. Subhash, the older, more cautious brother, is far more apt to watch any action, even as a child, than his brother Udayan, the more adventuresome brother, who is always participating in the action and testing limits.When, in 1967, an uprising in Naxalbari, four hundred miles from Calcutta, presages the beginning of a larger revolution of peasants against wealthy landowners, Udayan sees this as an impetus for wider change as a member of a Soviet-style Marxist organization, and after that, as a member of the Naxalites. While Subhash is studying out of town, Udayan is painting slogans and stimulating revolution, and when he meets Gauri, a philosopher who seems to share his point of view, he suddenly marries her, without seeking permission from his family and foregoing all the usual traditions. When Subhash soon after that receives a telegram to return home to Tollygunge, however, he knows that some family disaster has occurred. Ultimately, he returns to his PhD program in Rhode Island, but this time he is joined by his new bride, pregnant with a child which is not his.Thematically, the novel considers all aspects of what constitutes a family, what responsibilities of family life can (or should) supersede one's personal desires, and how, if at all, love can flourish under circumstances in which two people decide to adhere to a set of traditions and responsibilities not necessarily of their own choice. "You can't go home again," physically or emotionally, the novel seems to say, at the same time that it also expands on the idea that we are who we are and must accept that. The characters' interactions, responsibilities, and the consequences are particularly fraught as the novel moves through nearly fifty years of personal and social change within one family through several generations, the novel focusing on the academic Subhash and his family in the United States for most of the novel.Lahiri's prose is often elegant, and her descriptions of settings are perfect for the uses she makes of them. Rhode Island, along the coast, is true-to-life in its damp response to changing seasons and its glorious flourishing of life in the estuaries and marshes. The novel is somewhat less successful in its depictions of some characters, especially those of the mothers, both the mother of Subhash and Udayan and of the mother of Bela, whose career decision appears to be cruel. Because she is not fully developed, her actions are, unfortunately, less understandable to the reader than they might have been. The author does a remarkable job of straddling the line between realism and melodrama on an almost epic scale, however, a saving grace which keeps the reader actively involved and enthusiastic as Subhash and his family develop over three generations.

Amei o livro

I cannot rave enough about this, yet another masterpiece of Jumpa Lahiri! This book has everything. Poverty, love, family devotion, brotherly love , guilt and the unforgiving nature of one's children. I always love her writing style and her art of storytelling. I definitely am a big Lahiri fan and can't wait to buy her newest novel.

This book came to life, vivid and sad, taking shape from all directions. I loved everything about it and couldn’t put it down

This is my very first read of Jhumpa Lahiri's writing. I can't ignore the fact how many times her work, "The Lowland," brought tears to my eyes. Readers feel a profound sense of empathy for the characters because of their traumas, emotional breakdowns, sorrows, and griefs, and the way these experiences significantly affect the trajectory of their lives. Most readers, myself included, anticipated there would be some sort of reunion or perhaps even a "happy" ending, but the manner in which the novel ends just seemed so authentic. Regrettably, since life never ends perfectly for every individual, all the characters in that manner aren't given that 'happy' conclusion.A sense of nostalgia emerges after catching a few glimpses of Kolkata's transformation, given that you are a member of a family whose roots are in Kolkata. The novel's depiction of Kolkata's neighbourhoods shifting over the years as a result of India's partition and then the migration of Bangladeshi refugees into India is a theme that most Bengalis could relate to. The portrayal of Kolkata and its actual essence, notably Tollygunge, together with its different features over several timeframes, does not underperform, despite the fact that a substantial portion of the narrative takes place in Rhode Island in the United States. Additionally, it is worth noting how Lahiri excellently depicts the Bengali people in this novel, emphasising their way of life, culture, and traditions. The glimpses of the violent activities, described in this novel, of the Naxalite Movement seem to be something the majority of the Bengali people are aware of. Even if they have not witnessed it themselves, they must have heard about that dark past of Bengal from their parents or grandparents, like myself.To sum up, I would certainly recommend reading the novel. Jhumpa Lahiri's "The Lowland" undeniably cemented my admiration for her writing by exemplifying her literary prowess. Eager to read some more of her spellbinding works.

Diese Geschichte spielt in Kalkutta und fängt mit der Kindheit zweier ungleichen Brüder an, die sich sehr nahe stehen. Der jüngere Bruder wird ein Terrorist und merkt erst im Angesicht des Todes, dass er den falschen Weg gewählt hat. Seine schwangere Frau lebt im Haushalt der Schwiegermutter. Wir erfahren viel über die Atmosphäre in diesem Haus und die Beziehungen der Bewohner untereinander.Der ältere Bruder heiratet die Frau seines toten Bruders und nimmt sie mit nach Amerika. Trotz aller Versuche, gelingt es ihm nicht, ihre Gefühle zu erreichen. Eines Tages verschwindet sie ohne eine Nachricht und verlässt Mann und Tochter. Dadurch bricht bei der Tochter eine Krise aus.