Unaccustomed Earth

Wow!  And wow!

I am not a fan of short stories or novellas, but Jhumpa Lahiri may have changed that for me.  These stories just blew me away.  Facially all stories of Indian, specifically Bengali immigrants, and their children, Lahiri manages to tell every kind of story -- parent, child, spouse, lover, housemate -- bringing empathy and identity with every differing point of view.

This changing point of view, this reading of our own expectations on those who surround us is patently evident in the first story as we shift between daughter and father.  My favorite story though was the 5th, Nobody's Business, as Sang and Paul navigated their paths.  In fact it was so compelling I was reading it during commercial breaks of LOST.  And trust me, for me that is very compelling.  

This was a book that was so good you both hurried to finish it and hated to finish it, and I'll admit the end even made me misty.  I could see what was coming, but so wanted to hope that it would not.

I have not read any of Lahiri's other works, but they are now on my list, and I can't wait to get to them.