2013 Booker longlist: The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

This thread is for discussion of The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri.

Finally released today in my region (September 8th). I bought and started it. Can't say much after 5% only except for "promising beginning".

I've also just started this - found it really bizarre the publisher didn't bring the release date forward after the Booker nomination. Read her previous two (am a fan) so expecting good things.

Finished this today on the train into work. I am disappointed, but not sure if this is just because I had unrealistically high expectations (I really liked her previous two). I am also wondering if (trying to avoid spoilers here) this is linked to the 'unlikable mother' character - I heard a discussion of this recently on a book programme and I have been trying to think about whether this is key in my dissatisfaction with the novel.

I thought the characters' experiences with the Naxalites (Indian protest movement in the 1970s) was fascinating - new to me. I think I was hoping that there would be more on that - the novel seemed to slip away from some of the conflicts around choosing to prioritise family or protest that Lahiri set up at the beginning. I didn't feel they were resolved / considered in the way I would have expected from such a careful writer as Lahiri (but would be very interested to hear what others thought, perhaps that is just my reading).

Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel The Lowland has been shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker. It is a brilliant work that portrays two brothers who are cursed by tragedy, a women who is under threats from her past and the bigger picture of a revolution. A good read.

http://www.americanbazaaronline.com/2013/09/11/jhumpa-lahiri-shortlisted-man-boo...

The Guardian's review of the book - similar conclusions http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/12/lowland-jhumpa-lahiri-review

I enjoyed the beauty of Lahiri's novel, and felt that Udayan's death forever altered the course of his brother's life. Subhash had been in the shadow of his brother all of his life, and long after his death, he was still living with the consequences. Gauri, emotionally distant and passive was portrayed vividly by Lahiri. I could feel the emptiness of her life and feel it's echo in the lives of those around her. A difficult novel to feel, but a wonderful book to read.

I finished this recently. I was not as excited by it as I was by the Namesake, which I think is absolutely beautiful. One of Lahiri's greatest strengths is the intimacy of her work. You live alongside her characters, see their movements and growth. I didn't get that from the Lowland. Subhash, Gauri, Udayan--they're not particularly complex or well-developed. You skip through decades of their lives. I didn't like the multiple narrators, either. I kept expecting to find more intimacy with Subhash, and I liked him and his daughter, but I didn't know him nearly as well as I knew Gogol, or Miranda, or Hema.

I think Lahiri's a fantastic author of both short stories and novels. I just don't think the Lowland is the greatest proof of her talent.