The Lowland By Jhumpa Lahiri

“Isolation offered its own form of companionship: the reliable silence of her rooms, the steadfast tranquility of the evenings. The promise that she would find things where she put them, that there would be no interruption, no surprise. It greeted her at the end of each day and lay still with her at night.” – Excerpt from The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Lowland is the second novel by the famed Indian American author Jhumpa Lahiri. Her earlier works include Pulitzer Prize-winning short story collection Interpreter of Maladies and novel The Namesake (which was adapted to a motion picture directed by Mira Nair). The Lowland has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2013.

The Lowland is the story of brothers Subhash and Udayan. Born just 15 months apart, but having a dramatically different personalities – Subhash is pragmatic and realistic whereas Udayan idealistic and romantically besotted with the ideals of communism. Udayan gets drawn to the violent Naxalite movement whereas Subhash moves to the US for further studies. The story takes an unexpected turn when Uadyan is killed by the police for involvement in anti-government activities and Subhash marries his pregnant widow Gauri and takes her to the US. But it is difficult to escape the consequences of what Udayan had done, and which will define the lives of Subhash, Gauri, and their daughter Bela.

Similar to her earlier works, the characters here are burdened by sense of remorse which results in their emotional isolation. The highlight of the book is the emphatic portrayal of these characters, particularly of Gauri and Udayan. Some of Gauri’s actions seem to be cold-hearted and, at times, even cruel. However, Jhumpa never makes an overt attempt to justify these actions, gradually revealing information from the back stories and leaving it to the readers to make any judgement.

Similarly for Udayan, he seems like irresponsible and unemotional to his family, putting them into unnecessary danger and hardship. From a rational point of view, it is difficult to understand and reconcile with his behavior. Yet, not much space is spent explaining his point of view.

The complex relationship between Bela and Subhash is captured beautifully and forms some of the most emotionally satisfying parts of the book.

Overall, The Lowland is a beautifully written book. Highly recommended.

Bonus Material: Jhumpa talking about the book