The Lowland

If you have never read anything by Jhumpa Lahiri, do yourself a favor and pick up one of her books. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that she is one of the greatest living writers. Her prose is beautiful, direct, and powerful, she creates interesting characters, and as one reviewer said she handles their lives "with both objectivity and compassion." Her latest novel The Lowland is certainly no exception. It is on the long list for both the Man Booker Prize and National Book Award and is deserving of either (or both).

The Lowland is definitely Lahiri's most ambitious work. It is an inter-generational tale set in both India and America. It begins with the friendship of two brothers. Subhash, the eldest, goes to America but returns to India when he learns what has happened to his brother. In the interest of not ruining the story's suspense and letting it unfold as it is meant to, I will say no more about the plotline. I was of course hypnotized by the writing but worried that I wouldn't love the novel when I began and it focused solely on the male characters. Lahiri creates such rich female characters and I worried that the novel was only about these two men. (It's not and she includes great female characters as well.) The novel begins slowly but picks up once Subhash returns to India. At times I couldn't put the book down, though as I neared the end I found myself almost not wanting to finish it so that I could stay with these characters a little longer. The novel has a very satisfying ending and I definitely recommend this beautiful novel.

The Writing Life

On the syllabus for the writing class that I'm taking, there is a recommended reading list. Annie Dillard's The Writing Life is one of the books on the list that I haven't read and I picked this one up first as I have meant to read Dillard's work for a while now. I've heard so much about what a fantastic writer she is. The Writing Life is a very quick read. Dillard shares her muses about writing and I enjoyed her insight and approach to writing (and in turn, life itself). There is little more to say about the tiny book, but I will definitely be checking out more of her work in the future.

The Help

I've read Kathryn Stockett's novel The Help a couple times, most recently aloud to my thirteen year old son. He had wanted to see the movie and I had suggested we try to read the book first. I told him if he didn't like it we'd just watch the movie but by the end of the first chapter he was hooked. It's been a long time since I read a book to him, mostly because he hasn't seemed to enjoy it. But with The Help, he was asking if we could read. It was nice to see him so excited about a book.

Most people have at least heard of The Help if not read it. It's immense popularity only intensified when the movie came out. The novel is narrated by three women in Jackson, Mississippi during the early 1960s-- a white woman and two black maids. The three women eventually come together in an attempt to change the ill treatment of blacks. There is good reason for the book's popularity, the novel is readable and tells a great heartwarming/ wrenching story. Yet it's also received some (deserved) criticism. One of the complaints I had heard against the book was the horrible dialect that it's written in. As I read the book aloud I found myself cringing at the way that Stockett wrote the black women's chapters and juxtaposed next to (white) Skeeter's chapters it is a wonder that an editor didn't pick that up. I couldn't read the dialect because it was so uncomfortable to me, the way it seemed stereotypical, even a little racist. I changed words to make it sound more like Skeeter's chapters were written. All and all though it is a good story and I'm glad I thought to read it to Isaac since he is now saying that it's his favorite book.

Women Who Run With the Wolves

Years ago I joined a book club that met monthly to discuss Clarissa Pinkola Estes book Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype one chapter at a time. I think we met three times before the group fell apart and I pushed the book aside. I recently noticed it on my shelf and decided to finish it.

Pinkola Estes looks at different legends and stories about women throughout different cultures and dissects their meaning, explaining what can be learned from each tale. Though the back of the book labels it psychology, it is almost like a literary self-help book. It doesn't read that way, but Pinkola Estes points out not only problems for women that are perpetuated by our culture but solutions, or rather suggestions for how women can unleash the wildness inside them. I enjoyed the book, but almost wish I would have read a chapter per month as I had with the book club to let each section sink in before moving to the next. It's an enjoyable, interesting book that would particularly appeal to women who feel restless or unsatisfied with their life, as well as anyone interested in old myths and their meanings.