Like all other
work of Jhumpa Lahiri, The Lowland is anytime like getting into the cathartic
experience of meditation. Her writing can force you to slow down on your
thoughts.
She has no
surprises, very few sudden twists; almost like a mundane journal entry,
although in the narrators’ voice. Lahiri has that rare gift of beautifully
narrating intertwined life journeys. The story itself has a little plot, yet is
gripping, it holds you right to the end. However, the end is almost always
predictable. Her writing is magical and exceptionally detailed. She paints with
her words.
The book
intentionally sounds clumsy. Be prepared to be pulled in and out of the past
and for a good amount of heart wrench. It may leave you yearning to dig more
about the Naxalbari movement in West Bengal and in general about Calcutta of
the 1970s.
The blurb says
that it is a story of two brothers. Well, the book does belong to Subhash and
Udayan, but also equally to Gauri. Well, it may leave you upset, with questions
and relatively tangled.
But Gauri’s
character is equally befuddling and may leave you rattled. You empathize with
her, feel her helplessness - she has been unwillingly put into an exhaustingly
complicated circumstance. Well you may hate her, you wish her to commit suicide
to put an end to it, to jump off that balcony. Ironically, at the same time,
you also feel relieved that she receives an end in her grandchild right at the
end. You see a cocktail of farrago of emotions.
Gauri is
complicated, possibly not out of choice, but her circumstance. She could have
chosen better. Having said that depression is not summoned or sent away by
one’s choice.
Lahiri may
leave you with many questions on Gauri specifically, or maybe you see confusing
reflections of yourself in her. Lahiri’s description of Gauri’s post natal
anxiety, her incomplete love for Udayan, her desire to be lost amongst the
crowd of unknown, her selfish courage, her hungriness for knowledge - makes her
so human and relatable. Yet, anyone can effortlessly despise her.
Certainly this
book is more than a story of two brothers. Subhash is a loveable character, but
given his niceness, he would easily be taken for granted. You’d feel sorry for
him.
Many times,
you would want to shake him into human reality. Such folks are left deprived,
merely because of the characteristics of fellow humans and in general that of
our society. He gives up constantly, does not complain; in fact doubts himself
and his abilities. You love him, but, you know he will be granted a prolonged
journey saturated with loneliness.
You do not
know much of Bela or Udayan, just as Lahiri rightly intended. Bela does however
leave you raw with hurt on her reaction upon meeting Gauri. That chapter being
the only fast-paced chapter in the book. As much as we wanted to read more of
Bela’s mind and suffer with her, we do not think Lahiri could have written
anymore about her. If she did, the book would’ve made for a perfect soap opera
adaptation. Highly recommended, the story will stay with you for long and if
you get proper fits you may crave to read it over and again.
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