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moco71's review against another edition
4.0
Loved this book, characters, relationships - siblings, mother/daughter, father/daughter. Great story - the 340 pages flew by.
mcath_hartmann's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
donnykirkwood's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
shahlla's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
upasnab's review against another edition
3.0
Is there a thing called too emotional? I think this is it.
emeraldgarnet's review against another edition
2.0
I enjoyed the parts of the book that were set in India more than the parts that were set in the United States. The prose was not as inspiring as I would have hoped.
sidharthvardhan's review against another edition
3.0
“Just when he thinks she will have the energy to run forever, to escape his sight, she pauses. Turning back, breathing hard, her hand on her hip, making sure he is there.”
Jhumpa Lahiri’s Lowland read like one of her short stories enlarged to a novel and thus a story so very completely told. Most impressive of her feats is that she could manage to express emotions, the inside of humans through simple outside gestures; the one I quoted is just an example.
There are a lot of details – which at times does annoy you, but more often than not, these details are brought to proper use, establishing a proper tone. It is through them that author is able to make you see the point of view of all the major characters. You are able to enter the skin of each of them.
The author also uses these tiniest details to show story’s movement in time. You could actually see the kids growing in time, people developing notions and everything.
Lowland is definitely not a political novel. You must not raise your hopes on mention of communism in first few chapters. Lowland is a story of an average middle class family, and its characters do not influence politics than members of such a family would. Politics do influence the family but only as much as it would influence one of its average victims
Similarly, do not, at any point, start building up an image in your mind as to how the story shall go – your imagination is going to be probably be inspired by some movie and you shall be disappointed. There are no surprises, there are no shocks (except for death but that is in keeping with reality).
At no point, Lowland’s characters become heroes and heroines of a movie. They are almost always mere mortals, struck with their lives. The story goes on smooth like a river with few sharp turns, explicable in hindsight –which may make it boring to those who are used to drama.
For some reason, the author refused to use quotes, although that doesn’t affect reading experience; but the problem is that there is so much of silence especially in the middle. I understand that it was a dysfunctional family and everything but there is no way people can go on living wit out talking, without having any internal jokes or sharing laughter –even they don’t share love. The reason for my argument is simple – people need someone to talk, especially Gauri who had no one to talk outside either.
Also I believe with everything happening, Subhash seems to be too-out-of-world a person to not show his frustration more often. Similarly, I find it difficult to absorb that a mother can stay away from her daughter for decades – refusing to even check on her – these are though minor doubts in what is otherwise a great read.
Jhumpa Lahiri’s Lowland read like one of her short stories enlarged to a novel and thus a story so very completely told. Most impressive of her feats is that she could manage to express emotions, the inside of humans through simple outside gestures; the one I quoted is just an example.
There are a lot of details – which at times does annoy you, but more often than not, these details are brought to proper use, establishing a proper tone. It is through them that author is able to make you see the point of view of all the major characters. You are able to enter the skin of each of them.
The author also uses these tiniest details to show story’s movement in time. You could actually see the kids growing in time, people developing notions and everything.
Lowland is definitely not a political novel. You must not raise your hopes on mention of communism in first few chapters. Lowland is a story of an average middle class family, and its characters do not influence politics than members of such a family would. Politics do influence the family but only as much as it would influence one of its average victims
Similarly, do not, at any point, start building up an image in your mind as to how the story shall go – your imagination is going to be probably be inspired by some movie and you shall be disappointed. There are no surprises, there are no shocks (except for death but that is in keeping with reality).
At no point, Lowland’s characters become heroes and heroines of a movie. They are almost always mere mortals, struck with their lives. The story goes on smooth like a river with few sharp turns, explicable in hindsight –which may make it boring to those who are used to drama.
For some reason, the author refused to use quotes, although that doesn’t affect reading experience; but the problem is that there is so much of silence especially in the middle. I understand that it was a dysfunctional family and everything but there is no way people can go on living wit out talking, without having any internal jokes or sharing laughter –even they don’t share love. The reason for my argument is simple – people need someone to talk, especially Gauri who had no one to talk outside either.
Also I believe with everything happening, Subhash seems to be too-out-of-world a person to not show his frustration more often. Similarly, I find it difficult to absorb that a mother can stay away from her daughter for decades – refusing to even check on her – these are though minor doubts in what is otherwise a great read.
michelleleao10's review against another edition
3.0
This was really disappointing to me. I finished it because I felt obligated to rather than because I wanted to. The cadence of the story was a struggle, I would start to invest in a character and it would flip to another viewpoint which really made me lose interest in all of them.
swrrlgrrl's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Police brutality, Abandonment, Grief, and Violence
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
honeyarrnbooks's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0