Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Unaccustomed Earth

I was recommended by a teacher at school to read something by Jhumpa Lahiri, and this just happened to be sitting on my mother's shelf, so I picked it up earlier this week. It did not disappoint.

PART ONE
Unaccustomed Earth
In my opinion, this was the best of any of the stories in part one. It chronicled a few days in the life of Ruma, a Bengali lawyer with an American husband, dead mother, and young son living in the northwest United States. I found Unaccustomed Earth to be so incredibly well-written. Although it had a storyline and a 'moral' of sorts, I thought it was very calming and therapeutic to read. Just the boring, day-to-day life of a regular old person. 5/5 stars.

Hell-Heaven
I barely remember anything in Hell-Heaven, but if I had to guess, it would involve a Bengali person displeasing their parents by marrying an American and living somewhere in Massachusetts. I believe this was the one with Parnab Chakraborty, which I didn't love. 3/5 stars.

A Choice of Accommodations
A Bengali man marries an American woman studying to become a doctor, and they have two children. The part of their lives that this story covers happen to be during the wedding of one of Amit, one of the main character's, classmate's wedding. Like the other stories in part one of Unaccustomed Earth, it focused on dying love. Are all people doomed to fall out of love as they get older? Is their any romance in getting old together? Or are all relationships set up to fail at middle age? I'm not sure. 4/5 stars.

Only Goodness
An ironic title for a story in which many bad things happen. Rahul, a bright young boy becomes an alcoholic that drops out of Cornell. He is the younger brother of Sudha, the main character, a Bengali woman who marries a white man living in London. They have a young son. Pretty much the same story as the previous two. I swear all these people must be related because there is no way they all live in Massachusetts. I would honestly believe that everyone in this book is the same person, just in different lives. This one was shockingly heartbreaking, but it was well-written, so I give it a 5/5.

Nobody's Business
Another story of dwindling love, high expectations, and the desire to live a undefined life. This one was about Sang, a Harvard dropout who worked at a bookstore. While I did like this one, there was something about Paul's character that I didn't like. I don't think he was poorly written or that there was anything wrong with him as a (fictional) person, I just didn't like him. 3.5/5 stars.

In short, Part One of Unaccustomed Earth was both a succinct and poetic expression of what it means to live and love in a modern world. 4.1/5.

PART TWO: HEMA & KAUSHIK
Once in a Lifetime
Written in strange, almost-but-not-quite second person prose, Once in a Lifetime was written from Hema's perspective, as if in a letter drafted from memory to Kaushik. (Which... almost makes sense, given the ending of the book.) Once again detailing love, life, and death from the point of view of Bengalis living in Massachusetts, this chapter of Unaccustomed Earth was both moving and deeply upsetting. 4/5 stars.

Year's End
This time from Kaushik's perspective, and about restarting life in the face of death. Kaushik learns to move on, live, and love again after

Spoiler

his mother's death

4/5 stars.

Going Ashore
Hema and Kaushik meet once again in a new life, years passed since they used to know each other. Beautifully written and heart-shattering, Going Ashore is the perfect ending to this book. 5/5.

Part Two overall: 4.3/5.

In all, Unaccustomed Earth sums up the various stages of life and love, doing a phenomenal job of showing how people aren't inherently good or bad, and proving that even the biggest mistakes don't make them unworthy of being loved. 4.2/5 stars according to math, but I'd give it a 5/5. A must-read.

Content Warnings

sakisreads's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

✨ Thrifted ✨

I bought this for a friend, hoping this would be a great introduction into Jhumpa Lahiri’s writing, but ended up reading it for myself also and immensely enjoying lots of it ❤️

Some stories I enjoyed were:

Unaccustomed Earth (that disconnect from ‘home’ and interracial marriages was such a fascinating read) 😳

Hell-Heaven (this discomfort between loving someone and knowing you’ll never be with them made this story heated and hard-hitting) 🫠

The one that hit me most though, was definitely Part Two: Kaushi and Hema. Kaushi is a man whose loss drives him to never find a ‘home’ (instead travelling far and wide to work on photography) and Hema is a woman who never really settles for her ‘home’ either (instead doing studying art and literature). Their connection is forced, as Kaushi’s dad and mum essentially crash Hema’s dad and mum’s home for a month as they try and find somewhere to live in the US 😳

Spoiler

As we find out later on, this is because Kaushi’s mum is dying of cancer and they wanted to find her last home and treatment 🥺

Their reunion years later sparked so many emotions and I LOVE the way in which they are very flawed humans throughout the story, Kaushi always still being guarded and Hema trying desperately to fit in. I definitely wasn’t expecting the end however, and that made me very teary 😫

Spoiler

As someone who personally knows about the effects those tsunamis parts of South East Asia had in 2004, I absolutely was not expecting them in this tale! Hema losing Kaushi was devastating to say the least.

I’m definitely recommending this series of short stories ✨

Content Warnings

visionsoforchids's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

internationalreads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

rrio2x's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

tsnhjhn's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

a collection of short stories centering bengali characters from calcutta.

could relate to some of the cultural aspects but it was definitely very second generation immigrant and upper middle class family centric. (also a small note but it felt slightly pretentious that almost every single character went to an ivy or an otherwise very prestigious college)

continuing feeling of melancholy and loneliness throughout the book with some heavy themes so definitely not a lighthearted feel-good read, but it was refreshing to read about characters with complicated lives that felt very human, albeit depressing

my favorite one was definitely the very first one, the titular story, unaccustomed earth; it made me feel very reflective of my own future and the future of my relationships with my parents and siblings and grief and death and moving on and abandonment. carved a hole in my heart

Content Warnings

maviemerveilleuse's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

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