Fiction - Short Stories. I am not usually a big fan of the short story genre, but this is an excellent work that I totally recommend. Lahiri has included a number of short stories related to the different ways contemporary Indians are living today, both in India and the U.S., with different perspectives and voices in each. The one that stuck with me the most was the car driver in India who takes tourists to different locations in India, to show them the sacred sites and beautiful views, as one of his jobs. The family he is driving around is from the U.S. and they have come to India to go sightseeing and learn something about their heritage. The driver/tour guide observes some details about them, ones that most of us born and raised in the U.S. would not even think about as standing out or as odd. Lahiri has a marvelous writer's voice and knows her characters well, she includes everything from negotiating marriage and children, how to reconnect with each other when electricity is taken away and we are not distracted by our separate lives, to trying to learn about our past. I recommend this to those interested in Indian culture, issues that immigrants and their families face, and those looking for good stories that give incite on the human condition.
And so it goes...
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