I have read everything Pulitzer Prize winning author
Jhumpa
Lahiri has written. I read her books slowly and carefully so I can absorb her
beautifully written words. Although many fans feel her stories of immigrant
families must be about her life, they are just stories. In Other Words is
Jhumpa Lahiri’s first memoir and it is most certainly written from deep within
her heart. This is her journey to establish herself and her family in Italy,
a long held dream she has finally made reality. She has a passionate love
affair with learning Italian, a language she has studied for many years but
feels she has not mastered. Ms. Lahiri has challenged herself to only read and
write in Italian for the few years she is living there. This is a thoughtful,
pleasant read if you are interested in language, the written and spoken words
that help us communicate ourselves to everyone else all over the world. This
book is a bit repetitive but because it is short and wonderfully expressed, it
is so very easy to read. It reminds me of another book about language, the love
and learning of Hindi (Dreaming in Hindi by Katherine Russell Rich) and the
science of how we are affected and emotionally attached by our first language compared
to those that are learned later in life. I recommend In Other Words only if this
subject truly interests you - otherwise you may be too disappointed it is not
one of her breathtaking family sagas.
I have to admit, I didn't love Interpreter of Maladies, but I'm willing to give another book a try.
ReplyDeleteInteresting to get your thoughts on this, and the fact that it's not her usual fine fiction. But it's also interesting to hear about Lahiri's dream of living in Italy. I have the same one for France, though I've lived there briefly before. Like Lahiri, I'm a foreign "wannabe." And Italy is definitely a dreamy beautiful place. Thanks for this and cheers!
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