Jhumpa Lahiri’s characters tend to be immigrants from India and their American-reared children, exiles who straddle two countries, two cultures, and belong to neither: too used to freedom to accept the rituals and conventions of home, and yet too steeped in tradition to embrace American mores fully.

More

At this time, this review article is the fifth most e-mailed story from today’s New York Times. Why? If this were a multiple choice test, how might the answers be presented?

A. Book reviews are very popular.
B. We are all Indians.
C. Jhumpa Lahiri is a wonderful writer.
D. Wonder Bread and Curry–there’s a new cliché for you.
E. All or none of the above.

jhumpa-lahiri-unaccustomed-earth-michiko-kakutani