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The Lowland By Jhumpa Lahiri Chapter Summaries

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The book I choose is THE LOWLAND which is written by JHUMPA LAHIRI. Jhumpa Lahiri is an American author was born in London and raised in Rhode Island. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and author of two previous books. Her debut collection of stories, Interpreter of Maladies, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the PEN/Hemingway Award and The New Yorker Debut of the Year. Her novel The Namesake was a New York Times Notable Book, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist and was selected as one of the best books of the year by USA Today and Entertainment Weekly, among other publications. Lahiri's 2013 novel, The Lowland, was partially inspired by real-world political events.
First let me say that Jhumpa Lahiri is my goddess …show more content…

The title refers to a marshy stretch of land between two ponds in a Calcutta neighborhood where two very close brothers grow up. The lowland in question is in a section of Calcutta called Tollygunde. In monsoon season, the marsh floods and the ponds combine; in summer, the floodwater evaporates. You don't need your decoder ring to figure out that the two ponds symbolize the two brothers — at times separate; at other times inseparable. But there's still more meaning lurking in this rich landscape. The author goes on to tell us: "Certain creatures laid eggs that were able to endure the dry season. Others survived by burying themselves in mud, simulating death, waiting for the return of rain." When it rained, the lowland filled with three or four feet of water that remained for a portion of the year. “The flooded plain was thick with water hyacinth which grew aggressively. Its leaves caused the surface to appear solid. Green in contrast to the blue of the sky.” Water, sky and earth are integral parts of this remarkable, profound novel about the complex emotional adaptation to the ramifications of a

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