Writing short stories is blatantly more difficult than a novel, and writing reviews for the same is no different. It takes remarkable talent to develop touching plots in a mere two pages and make an impression on the ever-expectant reader. Jhumpa Lahiri falls among the list of very few writers who could make a short story poignant.
The author, who is well aware of her Bengali roots, pens fictional tales of Bengali immigrants living abroad. Her Pultizer Prize winning work takes a detour through their little joys and sorrows and their responses to it, their non-glamorous lives, their tender affections. It deals with the simple, and at times innocent aspects of our complicated lives in its different phases. She had so vividly sketched the characters, the likes of which may not be memorable (facts of life isn’t always) – characters like these do exist, in abundance. It has no over-the-counter romances, flashy tales or unrealistic depictions. It dwells on the little moments of life that we hardly care to notice. The stories here leave a chord but doesn’t necessarily make you happy.
Musings of a Quirky Soul 