Jhumpa Lahiri to come to Brown.

As I drag myself through the weak Providence rain at 8PM tonight, I was stopped mid-step in front of the Bookstore window. Gleaming through the glass is the big board announcing the bestselling author and Pulitzer-winner Jhumpa Lahiri's reading at Brown on April 6th. She will be reading her new novel Unaccustomed Earth. Although I have not finished Interpreter of Maladies, which I started months ago during my UK tour (a few pages left) nor have I read The Namesake, whose film version I already saw and found slightly disappointing as a film, I'm nonetheless really looking forward to hearing her speak on that Friday after spring break. The already huge MacMillan auditorium will undoubtedly be packed, so interested fans are advised to show up early to save their spots. I know a couple of friends and I will. I might in fact consider buying a copy (is it out yet?) and devour it over my spring break in Chicago. After I've finished Interpreter of Maladies, that is. Should be a quick yet quality read.

Having world-renowned authors over on campus is certainly one of the perks Brown has to offer. Who else would be lucky enough to shake Bill Clinton's hand, only a year later to be disturbed by several vocal, almost belligerent hecklers at Hillary Clinton's speech, or wait in line for Obama's speech (but decided to give up later due to some personal matters - Ok I was dying to pee and eat.) not to mention countless other rare opportunities. The expectation I had before I embarked on The Interpreter of Maladies was a high one. And the result in fact lived up to it - on a whole different level yet. While I was expecting a collection of lyrical essays laden with heavy allegorical language and a complex poetic touch a la Arundhati Roy, I was pleasantly surprised to meet with remarkably lucid prose, honest plots, and well-crafted characters who can speak for real-life South Asian immigrants in America. The pace of each of these short story is so slow and natural that the reader was fooled into believing it would end just as naturally as it started. You'll never know how you can be taken aback by something as simple, and natural, as death, truth, and lie.


[edit: Unaccustomed Earth will be released on April 1.]