I picked up this book for in flight reading, expecting a lot cause had been making waves after winning the pulitzer prize. and it lived up to each and every one of those expectations.
lots and lots of modern writers base their short stories by a straight zoom into an activity or dialogue of a particular person..or a couple. and continue with a portrayal of their life. thats exactly what jhumpa lahiri does.. it does not look not run off the mill at all.
captioned - stories from bengal, boston and beyond. the stories from boston and ’beyond’ are excellent...portraying our ever so interesting NRIs in a very beautiful light...:o)
i liked ’the third and final continent’ the most. it is truly one of the best short stories i’ve read. other sparkling stories are ’when mr.pirzada came to dine’ and ’sexy’.
and as far as bengal is concerned..the stories are poignant. thats probably a message the author wants to convey by setting a pattern in her writing. the few stories based on this theme are not as interesting...but they do make for not too bad reading.
jhumpa lahiri writes with unabounded grace and elegance...and you tend to love almost each and every moment of it. ( remember, I said almost! )
the stories are quite good....some of them really really good..a must read for anyone interested in such stuff.