The Lowland

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
First Printing: 2013 by Knopf

After reading Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies, I knew I had to read more of her work. Her way of revealing people through their actions made her stories ensnare you. I felt like I was looking through a window right into these peoples' lives. The Lowland instantly made my list of to-be-reads. My expectations were high, I was prepared for my mind to be blown. Unfortunately, my excitement quickly died and I grew disappointed as I struggled to even finish this book.

The story opens in Tollygunge, a region in Calcutta, India. Subhash and Udayan Mitra grow up together on a quiet street with their parents. Though Subhash is the oldest, Udayan is the outspoken leader of the two. He leads them on adventures and gets them into mischief. As a child he didn't mind it, but as the boys grow older and go off to college Subhash begins to feel a void between him and his brother. His brother's strength makes Subhash question his own. When Udayan joins the Naxalite Movement (a communist group founded on Mao's teachings) and violence spreads across India, Subhash transfers to a college in America. Subhash distances himself from India and his family, keeping his homeland's civil unrest out of his mind. Udayan dives headfirst into the communist movement. He attends all the meetings and is present at every protest. Subhash becomes angry with his brother, worrying that his outspokenness will endanger the family. When Udayan takes a wife, Subhash hopes things will finally settle down. But an urgent letter from home forces him to return to India immediately, and what he finds there changes his life forever.

Final Rating: 2 out of 5
I really wanted to like this book. With each chapter I hoped that the story would pick up the pace, that the characters would start to show some depth. A little over halfway through I had to resign myself to the facts: The story was dull and there was no saving it at this point. The Naxalite movement, a theme that was supposed to be a major contender in this book, was barely involved. I wish Lahiri would have delved more into that part of the book, showing what the movement was fighting for. The scant descriptions of its involvement in Indian history were dumbed down until they were a bore. In this particular book, I felt that Lahiri had lost her sense of showing you a person rather than telling you about them. The characters felt lifeless, and the book progressed slowly with very little action. Most of the explanation and action was crammed into the last 30 pages, like an afterthought.I have no doubt that Lahiri is a great and important writer, but she really dropped the ball on this one. I won't be reading this book again.

Favorite Quote:
"Though there marriage had not been a solution, it had taken her away from Tollygunge. He had brought her to America and then, like an animal briefly observed, briefly caged, released her. He had protected her, he had attempted to love her. Every time she had to open a new jar of jam, she resorted to the trick he'd taught her, of banging the edge of the lid three or four times with a spoon, to break the seal." (page 243)

The Lowland is available in physical and digital copies from all major booksellers, including Barnes and Noble and Amazon.