Unaccustomed Earth

Infobox Book |
name = Unaccustomed Earth
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Preview Book Cover
author = Jhumpa Lahiri
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country =
country = United States
language = English
genre = Short Stories
publisher = Alfred A. Knopf
release_date = April 2008
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 331 pp
isbn = ISBN 0747590001
preceded_by = The Namesake
followed_by =

"Unaccustomed Earth" is the latest book from Pulitzer Prize winning author Jhumpa Lahiri. After Interpreter of Maladies, the Pulitzer Prize winning book, this is her second collection of short stories. Just like her other books, Unaccustomed Earth is also a reflection of life of two separate cultures, and how people cope with each other.

Table of Contents:

* Unaccustomed Earth
** The title story of the book, its about the father of Ruma and Romi, who retired from his pharmaceutical company after his wife's death due to a reaction to anaesthesia. Ruma's father likes to travel around the world, Europe being one of them. Ruma, being newly settled in suburbs of Seattle with her son Akash and workaholic husband Adam, torned between her life and her father's. She is torn between her father to leave Pensylvania and afraid he might stay with them, but she also knows that her father needs no care and at the end of story, she realises that he is not accustomed to her world, he likes to live it in his own. Her father came to visit her and was affectionate to her son but he thinks he does not belong here. He met another bengali woman on his trip to Europe and wants her company, but doubtful of what her daughter's reaction would be, thus wants to hide the fact. On his way back he lost the postcard he wrote for his newly found friend which falls into Ruma's hand and she realises her father never intends to stay with them permanently. After her father is gone to catch the plane, she keeps the postcard for the mailman, as if to fulfil and respect her father's desire.

* Hell-Heaven
* A Choice of Accommodations
* Only Goodness
* Nobody's Business
* Hema and Kaushik:Lahiri had changed her style of story writing in a different way in this story. The entire story is based on two people (as the title suggests), who were, once mere acquaintances in childhood, there was big difference in their lifestyle, yet they felt attracted sometimes in their time-span back then. Two decades after they met again, just days before they were to enter into completely different phases of their humble life and yet felt attracted to each other. Then they went separate ways, and stayed separate for a lifetime. The entire story of Hema and Kaushik has been divided into three parts.
** "Once in a Lifetime"
*** The first mostly dealt with their childhood, as depicted by Hema. It depicts the simple story of two family who were closed to each other because of simple resemblance of their culture and their lifestyle in a foreign country which they slowly and quietly adjusted to the culture.
** "Year's End"
*** The part is from Kaushik's point of view, of his life after his mother's death and how that has changed his as well as his father's life, and his stumbling relationship with her father, his newly wed wife and her children. Lahiri silently depicted the affectionate relationship between Kaushik and his little step-sisters, and how one day it washes away, leaving Kaushik wandering off into different places of North-eastern US to forget his memory and wash away his hasty decision which left the two children devastated even though they did not mention any of it to their parents. All these happened only because Kaushik was still in no position to accept his mom's death and his step-sisters were able to find out his mother's photo while they were going through his stuff, which infuriated him and made them scared of their loving brother "KD".

** "Going Ashore"
*** The last part is depicted by both of them as they met again in Italy after two long decades where Hema is tormented with his dishonest married Boyfriend Julian and finally trying to get back into her life by planning to marry a man she hardly knows, while Kaushik planning to travel different places in the world as part of his work of Photography. In spite of all that they felt reattached and spend their days together, even though Hema is going to be married very soon. At the eleventh hour when Hema is just about to go back to Kolkata,India, he expressed his desire for her and requested her to come with him to Hong Kong. But Hema could not deal with that at the very moment and came back to Kolkata. Kaushik died in earthquake and Tsunami (it wasn't directly implied that it was Tsunami, but the detailed description of the situation looks like it) at Thailand. Thus they stayed separate for a lifetime, eventually Hema got pregnant and she had to return to her existence, the one she chosen instead of Kaushik. The story ended with Hema's realization about her unborn child and Kaushik,

"It might have been your child but this was not the case. We had been careful and you had left nothing behind".

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External links

* [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/books/04Book.html?ref=books Wonder Bread and Curry: Mingling Cultures, Conflicted Hearts: Review by Michiko Kakutani] for The New York Times.