Book review: The Lowland

Subhash and Udayan are two brothers growing up in the years after the Indian Independence. They are very close to each other, but they end up taking different paths. The '60s is a turbulent decade for India and Udayan opts to join the Communist Party while Subhash continues his studies in the USA.

The years go by and practically the two brothers have very little contact, just a few letters sent by Udayan with news about India, their family and his marriage to a girl that their parents did not approve of. One day Subhash is called back home by his parents; his brother was killed due to his illegal activities.

Subhash goes to India in a house filled with memories. He meets his sister-in-law, who is pregnant to Udayan's baby and decides to relieve her from a life in a house she is not wanted. He marries her and she follows him to Rhode Island, where he completes his PhD research. Will Subhash and Gauri be able to forget the past and carry on? Will there be a happy ending for them?

The story itself is quite interesting, although the pattern of family sagas has been used by authors so many times. Lahiri's writing is quite good and the sentences flow easily. However, there are some major drawbacks.

The style is very descriptive, there are hardly any dialogues between the characters and this does not allow them to come closer to the readers. There is, also, a strong focus on the Indian history; the narrative informs on the events that took place in the country during the '60s and the '70s, trying to incorporate the story into them instead of the opposite. One feels the characters come second and some parts are more like an essay than a work of fiction. As a consequence, the storytelling becomes stiff, impersonal and dull. Moreover, the characters' lives span for around five decades and one expects that during this period their personalities, thoughts and feelings evolve and change. Yet, in this book the characters remain static; the same feelings around immigration, longing, grief, bitterness, love and sadness are found until the end. They do not grow, do not express themselves, they are not explored.

Personal opinion: unless you are into modern Indian social/political history or eager to get informed about it, try something else.




+ good writing, focus on the modern socio-political history of India
- too descriptive and stiff storytelling, characters lack of depth




(written by FK for Walkley Library)



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