Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

I usually don’t write book reviews because at the very outset I am stumped by this feeling, “Why would anyone want to read my impressions or critique of a book when he or she can access the real stuff?” But recently I read a book which I liked hugely and came across a blog called At Pemberley Life Between Pages where because of book reviews I’ve been introduced to books I’ve added to my reading list. And the combination of both makes me want to present to you Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri. It’s a book I relished because Jhumpa Lahiri’s writing is limpid, light and poignant, because Lowland like all her other work moves back and forth between different continents and cultures , though ultimately the movement is away from India and towards the  United States, and because I find in her characters reflections of my own upbringing, experiences and conflicts. And when I say I, I am just one amongst many Indians or citizens of today’s world, whose identities are the result of moving away from one’s country to another,  of growing up with diverse cultural inputs, of speaking one language at home and another with the world, of experiencing  solitude and nostalgia for a country left behind, of adapting, making space for the alien and eventually of coming to terms with the multi-faceted nature of one’s being.   

In Lowland we get to know two brothers with about a year of age difference, growing up in Calcutta. They are very close to each other and can be mistaken as twins. They do everything together. The younger brother Udayan is more daring, impulsive while the older Subhash is more cautious and patient. Their ways start diverging during their college days.  In 1967 tribal peasants in Naxalbari, a village in the north of West Bengal revolted against the feudal system of wealthy landlords who forcefully evicted them from the fields they cultivated, thus cutting them from their only source of subsistence and revenue. Their armed uprising was brutally suppressed . Udayan deeply upset and enraged by this turn of events joins the Naxalite movement which sought to empower tribals and peasants,The movement eventually turned extremely violent. People who were considered to represent the state and consequently oppressors were ruthlessly assasinated. The government's retort was equally if not more ruthless.   It was greatly influenced by the ideology of Mao Zedong.  Subhash is sceptical about its success of this movement and  would like to go the United States to continue his studies. So their ways part.  Subhash goes to a university in Rhode Island in the States and Udayan stays back in Calcutta. Udayan gets married to Gauri, a girl of his choice and Subhash has affair with an American woman separated from her husband,with always the thought that his parents would never approve of a liaison with a foreigner. And three years after Subhash’s stay in the States he receives a telegram: Udayan Killed. Come if you can.  I feel tempted to tell more but that would be like my aunt who always told me the ending of a film when curtains went up.  

One of the strongest points of this novel is that it doesn’t cease to surprise you and yet the surprise is never forced. The unfolding of the plot seems a natural outcome of the evolution of the characters.  

 The different geographical, cultural and emotional spaces the characters inhabit , constitute the depth and breadth of the novel. Through Subhash’s and Udayan’s childhood and parents, through Udayan’s activities and his relationship with Gauri, we live through a tumultuous period in Bengal. Along with Subhash and Gauri  we move from Calcutta to the States and have the first generation immigrant’s experience.  And finally through their children we are at home in America. It’s a long journey; nobody is spared from separation, disillusionment, heartbreak, and death. It’s a journey I felt completely involved in. And the end is graceful, holding the promise of reconciliation, appeasement, and the beginning of other stories.  

The only critique I have after reading the story a second time is that Subhash seems lacking in some vital element. We don’t witness his torments, the battles he wages with himself. His character in my opinion would be more real if he had more rough edges.

Arunima Choudhury