Book: Whereabouts
Author: Jhumpa Lahiri
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 176
Read On: Kindle
How Long it Took Me To Read: 3 days
Plot Summary: Exuberance and dread, attachment and estrangement: in this novel, Jhumpa Lahiri stretches her themes to the limit. The woman at the center wavers between stasis and movement, between the need to belong and the refusal to form lasting ties. The city she calls home, an engaging backdrop to her days, acts as a confidant: the sidewalks around her house, parks, bridges, piazzas, streets, stores, coffee bars. We follow her to the pool she frequents and to the train station that sometimes leads her to her mother, mired in a desperate solitude after her father's untimely death. In addition to colleagues at work, where she never quite feels at ease, she has girl friends, guy friends, and "him," a shadow who both consoles and unsettles her. But in the arc of a year, as one season gives way to the next, transformation awaits. One day at the sea, both overwhelmed and replenished by the sun's vital heat, her perspective will change. This is the first novel she has written in Italian and translated into English. It brims with the impulse to cross barriers. By grafting herself onto a new literary language, Lahiri has pushed herself to a new level of artistic achievement.
Things I Liked:
1. A new novel from one's favourite author is always, always a good thing be. When I heard, at the beginning of the year that we were getting a new Lahiri book I was ecstatic. Obviously. I put the book on my Wishlist and meant to pre-order it come April. But then April came and brought insanity in its wake. I fell sick and in all of that pre-ordering went out of the window. I had to get this on my Kindle to read it ASAP. I didn't want to wait for a physical copy. But put that aside, I was excited to read a new Lahiri but...I was also slightly apprehensive. This was not her usual fare. Apart from the fact that this book was originally written in Italian by Lahiri and then translated into English by her, this book is different from your usual Lahiri. There is no Bengali family at the heart of this novel. No tales of the diaspora. No longing for a homeland left behind. No longing for home. These are things I love best about her books and this book wouldn't have any of it. So I wondered if i'd even like it. I was a little bit on the fence. The good news is inspite of not having any of her trademark elements I still loved this book.
2. This novel, if you can even call it that, given it's a collection of various moments and musings. It's not quite a novel..if you ask me. Reading this feels a little like blinking, blink and you are here and blink again and you've moved to another place and time. The grocer, the stationer, work, home and homes of friends. You move along, glide along with our protagonist and it happens seamlessly. You find yourself go from situation to situation and see the ordinary life and times of a woman. There was a fleeting energy in this book, something transient and perfectly ordinary yet extraordinary.
3. In some ways reading this book felt incredibly invasive, like you are sneakily reading someone's personal journal. Because some of this feels almost too personal to read, because these little thoughts, their musings about life and loneliness and solitude are somehow more personal than even explosive things like relationships and lust filled confessions.
4. There is this quiet quality in this book from start to finish. A peace. I think I picked up this book at the right time. I was still reeling from the after effects of Covid and feeling most listless and depleted and this book was the perfect book to read. A perfect companion for a time I was still worried and stressed out. I also have a feeling that this book about a woman going from one place to another and one feeling to another is a good book to pick up when we are stuck at home and feeling stir crazy.
5. The woman in this book, an unnamed narrator felt like someone I know well, she felt like a friend. She felt like she was me. A woman who enjoys her solitude for most part, who lives life on her own terms, is set in her way but there is also a restless energy in her. Maybe she wants a little more from life. Maybe she craves a little something more. She is real and relatable and never for a moment feels like a character.
6. I also liked that this book shows how our childhoods, even the most benign ones leave a mark. There is no escaping the wounds of childhood and the way we were raised. This book occasionally takes us back to our protagonist's childhood and we see her difficult relationship with her mother and how it still has a hold over her.
7. Honestly, I was a little surprised by how much I loved this book. I loved this little ambling along and seeing a life of a single woman in her 40s. I liked the sad bits, the poignant bits and the humorous bits. I loved that it showed single life in all it's shades. As a single woman I liked that our lives weren't just reduced to sad longing and loneliness.
8. The writing was lovely. As always a delight to read Lahiri's words. I will always, always want to read everything she writes.
Rating: 4/5
I loved this book.
I think I read it at the right time.
It felt like a hug from an old friend.
However, I don't know if this is a book for everyone. I think it depends on how you see our protagonists life: do you think she's lonely? Alone? Or free?
There may be a disjointed feel to this book and that may rub some readers the wrong way.
So pick it up and read it if you like this sort of thing.
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