I've fallen in love with Lahiri's writing. She's one of the few authors I elect not to speed read simply because her writing demands your complete attention.
Unaccustomed Earth is her new book of short stories. It starts out with the title story of an Indian woman being visited by her elderly father. Larhiri wrote this story from both the woman and the father's perspective. Not an easy feat, I would imagine. This story left me with a little "Aw."
Hell-Heaven arrives to introduce us to an Indian family who befriends an Indian man alone in the US.
Choice of Accommodations was next. A story about a couple trying to make an old friend's wedding into a romantic getaway without the kids. Another little "Aw."
Only Goodness was the story that made me put the book down and just sigh. This one hit a little to close to home, with a sibling dealing with another siblings alcoholism. I'm fiercely against giving up on people and cutting them out of my life and this story ... well, it just made me cry.
The last 3 stories contain the same 2 characters and, by the last story, just completely broke my heart.
Thanks Jhumpa, for making me sad and teary. And for writing so damn well.
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