Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

The pace is slow, but these are powerful short stories that deal with the reality of love, marriage, family, home, immigration, being a minority, class… about what it means to have relationships. Lahiri creates painfully real characters whose motivations are complicated. I wouldn’t call this an “easy read” — someone else in my class said she couldn’t put it down, but I felt more like I wanted a break in between, time to process. It was a heavy-focus book for me, not a light read.

Pick this up if you want to enjoy the way that words flow, or if you want to analyze character and culture.