soda26

Another beautiful book by Jhumpa Lahiri. I've read most of her books and this one felt the saddest of these. It's a set of short stories, mostly with the common thread or theme of the missed opportunities and/or misalignment due to flawed communication within relationships. She has a way with her words that I haven't read with many other authors- it's precise and not overly verbose, but able to coax the most subtle and nuanced elements of a relationship. The way someone sighed, the movement to pick up an object, the way which someone turned their back to another person. These actions, which could be described so basically, are instead applied so gracefully as to say one hundred additional things about that person and/or that relationship. It thickens and enriches the story dialogue amazingly, and makes her one of my favorite authors. Although I didn't feel intensely uplifted at the end of the book, I felt mentally nourished and satisfied. It's a special author who can do that.

2023-01-07 05:44