Overview:
Exuberance and dread, attachment and estrangement: in this novel, Jhumpa Lahiri stretches her themes to the limit. The woman at the center wavers between stasis and movement, between the need to belong and the refusal to form lasting ties. The city she calls home, an engaging backdrop to her days, acts as a confidant: the sidewalks around her house, parks, bridges, piazzas, streets, stores, coffee bars. We follow her to the pool she frequents and to the train station that sometimes leads her to her mother, mired in a desperate solitude after her father’s untimely death. In addition to colleagues at work, where she never quite feels at ease, she has girl friends, guy friends, and “him,” a shadow who both consoles and unsettles her. But in the arc of a year, as one season gives way to the next, transformation awaits. One day at the sea, both overwhelmed and replenished by the sun’s vital heat, her perspective will change. This is the first novel she has written in Italian and translated into English. It brims with the impulse to cross barriers. By grafting herself onto a new literary language, Lahiri has pushed herself to a new level of artistic achievement.
Would I Recommend It?
Yes.
To my husband, yes, you’ll like this one–but it may also make you sad. But hopefully, happy, too, that your life took a different turn.
Thoughts?
This book reads like a real person’s diary. At least that’s the approach I took to it. And had it been non-fiction then some parts would make that real life author quite bold for sharing so openly.
So many sad parts. You feel for the narrator. You hope she finds herself again.
I loved that some parts of the book read like it’s about a friend of mine. Some parts read like I’m reading about me.
I enjoy books that create a mood. A feeling. A scene I can vividly picture as if I’ve visited there.
So many parts I read over multiple times. This is the first book I’ve read where I feel that I would revisit reading some of the chapters later on.
Quotable Quotes:
“I’m amazed at our impulse to express ourselves, explain ourselves, tell stories to one another.” – page 61
“In any case, I don’t need anything else. The tenderness he sets aside for me is enough.” – page 89
“The laughter swells and dies down like the waves that crash on the beach in front of us.” – page 91
“Outside, there’s a ferocious noise coming from the crashing of the waves and the roar of the wind. A perpetual agitation, a thundering boom that devours everything. I wonder why we find it so reassuring.” – page 93
“The wind blows as I walk, and the lights in the distant houses make me sad on the way back I feel the weight of being alone here, of not knowing a soul.” – page 103
“This evening as I read in bed I hear the roar or cars that speed down the road below my apartment. And the fact their passing makes me aware of my own stillness. I can only fall asleep when I hear them.” – page 107
—-This part reminded me so much of my grandma (my Dad’s mom). Her bedroom on the third floor of her building faced a busy street below with a hospital directly across the road and she loved that constant hum of cars below. The sirens didn’t bother her at all. She slept with her window open a crack to let that constant bustling noise in. It helped her sleep. It made her feel less alone after grandpa was gone. One of the memories of conversations with her that stuck with me.
“Even though I can’t draw, I’d like one of those sketchbooks, hand bound, with thick cream-colored paper.” – page 118
—-Yes! Me, too! In fact, just Friday I was at JoAnn Fabrics and I couldn’t resist opening and coveting the sketchbooks. But I never get them because it’d be silly. Because I can’t draw. And I really like lines when I write so couldn’t double as a notebook for me.
“As disappointed as I am, I’m not surprised that my beloved stationary store no longer exists, the rents must be sky-high around here, and furthermore, who buys notebooks in the end? My students can barely write by hand, they press buttons to learn about life and explore the world. Their thoughts emerge on screens and dwell inside clouds that have no substance, no shortage of space.” – page 120
—-Me! I write in notebooks! I adore them. =)
Book:
Whereabouts
Author:
Jhumpa Lahiri
Genre:
Fiction
My Rating:
4 Stars
The Hiking Bookworms 
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