The Lowland

Title: The Lowland

Author: Jhumpa Lahiri

Publisher: Vintage Books

May 2014

417 pages

This is the 4th book written by Jhumpa Lahiri after Interpreter of  Maladies, The Namesake and Unaccustomed Earth. I always love the way Lahiri delivered her story. She's just a natural-born story teller. She comes out with stunning characters, compelling story and all will be written beautifully. No wonder if she received several awards including the Pulitzer Prize. 

In her latest novel The Lowland, she tells about two brothers close in age, only have 15 months age differences. Udayan is the rebellious one while Subhash is the responsible serious one. They grow up together in Tollygunge, a suburb of Calcutta during the 1960s political chaos. After college, Subhash heads to Rhode Island, US, to continue his study. Udayan stays in Calcutta and becomes involved in a political uprising. Udayan finally killed leaving behind a pregnant wife, Gauri. Subhash returns home and picks up the pieces including fills the role of a husband to widowed Gauri and a father to his niece-to-be.

It's a long-moving family saga. It takes almost 70 years of a family history from mid-twentieth century India to a contemporary America that has been a consistent feature of Lahiri's fiction. I enjoy not only the drama of the family but also Indian history. Lahiri did a great job of summarizing the political landscape of India in 1960s.

If you love The Namesake, you will definitely love this one as well. Highly recommended.