Whereabouts

The last book I read of Jhumpa Lahiri was “Interpreter of Maladies” and I really enjoyed the book and her writing style. I was tracking her new novel “Whereabouts” for a while and when the book was available in the lightning deal, I readily bought the copy for a very good price ~250. I am yet to read this book, so the review is purely about the copy I have received. Usually the book I order via Amazon in India are not of international standards, but this one is really beautiful. Not only it's hardbound, it has an amazing paper quality too. The font and spacing is visually pleasing and will surely make it a good read. I am someone who loves to own a copy of a novel so it’s very important to have it of very good quality. And this one is really impressive. Thanks #Penguin.

In Whereabouts, we follow a woman who is a professor at a university, Lahiri takes us through her daily wonderings to the supermarket, vacation, pool and friend’s dinner. We get the inner workings of her mind, how she views herself, the people and the world around her. The story is about an unnamed woman, in an unknown city and consists of over 40 vignettes. The woman is a people watcher, loves to connect with others, but also loves her solitude. An internal rendering of daily events in a life, she explains what she does and what she thinks, about events, and people. Lahiri's book explores and celebrates ordinary life as it ponders how we all fit together as well as apart as we go forward. There are so many layers and textures with Lahiri's poetic prose as she explores family and community, goals and dreams. There is an undercurrent of loneliness throughout this book. “Solitude: its become my trade. As it requires a certain discipline, it’s a condition I try to perfect” She's a brilliant thinker, and often captures some glittering moment of life in a way that's poetic and compelling. The way she explains the sunrise is nothing short of poetry... “I wait as the golden light highlights a section of the jagged contours of the hills across the way. It all happens in a matter of seconds: the sphere, so precise at the start, emerges, perfectly round, like an egg yolk that then slips from its shell. It rises methodically, turning pale as it climbs higher, though I know its not budging, not even by millimetre, that’s its just an illusion, fantastical. I feel the light that blazes across the city, striking my face but also warming my marrow..” My favourite chapters are about the character and her mother. The only chapters where we get a little sneak peak into the narrator’s life are the one with her parents, her frugal father and old lovers. I wish we could learn more about her persona. Apart from being a Professor, she is also an avid reader and a writer too. The way she describes her visit to a stationary shop is similar to the way a pilgrim goes on a pilgrimage. Only writers can describe it that way...they tend to have reverence for their tools...be it a pen, paper and books. “The stationary store has been one of my haunts for years. when I was a younger girl I’d go there to get what I needed for school, and then for college, and now for teaching. Every purchase, however mundane, makes me happy. Each item validates my life somehow” At times, it looks like the narrator has a good social life, yet she is still a loner and someone who thrives on solitude. This book is like an ode to solitude. Whereabouts seemed like someone was reading diary entries to me and in a way felt invasive as if being privy to someone’s journal entries. Although the narrator has lived in this unnamed city all through her life, she is still brave enough to uproot herself from this comfortable urban cocoon and start a new life for a year (fellowship in other University) towards the end of the book...perhaps new experiences await her in a new city? I guess in a way she is a like the sky that can’t be defined and just observes the world, without getting attached to it. “The sky, unlike the sea, never holds on to the people that pass through it. The sky contains nothing of our spirit, it doesn’t care.Always shifting, altering its aspect from one to the next, it can’t be defined.” Whereabouts, as the name suggests is “the place where someone or something is’. Throughout this book, we get a sense of someone, searching for a sense of place and identity be it through her relationship to others, her occupation and her family bonds. “And yet, even as my life shattered in pieces, I felt as if i were finally coming up for air” This book is not an easy read and definitely would not recommend it to everyone (Hence only 4 stars). However, if you love people watching this is a perfect novel for you. This book is beyond beautiful, the writing is precise, moving, and gives you this calming effect that you are exactly where you need to be. It’s a very slim book of just 150+ pages, yet it lingers on, long after you have turned the last page. I still can’t reckon what kept me going ...I guess it’s Jhumpa Lahiri’s ability to write about the ordinary things such as going to the pool and making it interesting is what got me going. I was thoroughly invested. This is a beautiful hardcover book with aesthetically designed cover page. After reading this book, I felt a sense of peace and calm. It had a meditative effect on me. Read this!!! It’s therapeutic for your soul! Amazon’s service was top notch! This book was delivered within 3days of placing my order. There was not even a scratch on the cover and was brand new (thanks to the seller for amazing packing). Kudos to the team!!!

I'm a self-confessed admirer of Lahiri's writings, be it her books or pieces published on any platform. But whereabouts is nothing like any of her previous works. It traces the journey of a nameless protagonist with an abrupt beginning and ends at a point when she decides to let go of her secured life and venture into the unknown. The book might be dissatisfying to those who savored her excellent works of fiction until now because it breaks away from the traditional pattern. Her writing is bold and experimental. It reads more like journal entries from the life of a writer/teacher cocooned in a safe zone until she decides to break away from the routine and embark on a new journey. I felt like I was traveling in the protagonist's shoes from the first till the last page as I could visualize her journey vividly. A thoroughly enjoyable book, my only bone of contention is that it finished too early.

Having completed this novel and spent a couple of hours over it, I still don't know what to make of it. It certainty isn't for everyone. Definitely, an easygoing book for readers who have all the time in the world. Having said that, this is an extremely short novel of 150 pages. I would quote The Guardian here as I feel they've to an extent succeeded in describing Lahiri's fourth work of literature. Whereabouts is a novel in vignettes, each chapter a postcard from an everyday landmark – “In the Bookstore”, “At the Beautician”, etc – typically experienced alone, although sometimes highlighting the consolation of strangers. “In the Hotel” shows the narrator and a male guest silently synchronising their daily walks to the lift, a “tacit bond” putting her “obscurely at peace with the world”. These mental dispatches are tantamount to a primer in the art of solitude, which, Lahiri rightly observes, “requires a certain discipline”.

I feel like I am peeking into someone's diary. A quick read that should be read slowly.

Pour lire un livre extraordinaire

Com a aparente proposta de um passeio pelas redondezas da cidade em que mora a autora realiza uma viagem introspectiva. As descrições dos recantos, lugares que transita, seus deslocamentos e observações sobre o que a envolve fisicamente representam etiquetas buscando a compreensão do seu ser.

Jhumpa Lahiri has reinvented herself as a writer. This new novel was written in Italian, the English translation is her own. But the reinvention goes beyond the chosen language. This is a beautifully written collection of short chapters, that once together gives us a year in the life of the unnamed narrator. There is a compelling economy of language, an ability to describe the quotidian, a situation, a place, a character, a feeling, in a minimalist yet immersive way. And throughout there is an underlying melancholy, where even the nice memories do not escape unscathed by the tinge of sadness. The character that emerges is real, conflicted, alone, in perpetual motion yet seemingly stationary. This is a new Lahiri, completely different yet every bit as fascinating as the Pulitzer Prize winner.

Jhumpa Lahiri fascinated me with her personal story first. Falling in love with Italian language she switched from writing in English to writing in Italian in the middle of her career after being an established American writer with a Pulitzer prize under her belt. This is my favourite book by her so far. It's short so I devoured it in about two days and it left me missing it's world even though I spent such a short time in it. I recently finished books that are times longer that didn't get me so attached to their world as this one (for example our Share Of the Night). The way she writes makes you melt through the print into the scenes she describes. You stop reading and you 'see'. It's an easy and beautiful read that left me feeling that I actually got to know someone, to touch them, to spent time in their apartment making breakfast together it's such an amazing feeling. The next one on my list is 'In other words' by her in which she tells about falling in love (or becoming obsessed) with the Italian language and making the transition. I'm savoring the anticipation of reading it.