海角大神

Two brothers 鈥� one cautious and shy, the other audacious and daring 鈥� grow up inseparable in 1960s Calcutta in Jhumpa Lahiri鈥檚 somber but formidable second novel, The Lowland.

Lahiri won the Pulitzer Prize for her short-story collection 鈥淭he Interpreter of Maladies,鈥� and her first novel, 鈥淭he Namesake,鈥� was turned into a movie. 鈥淭he Lowland鈥� has been nominated for two of literature鈥檚 biggest prizes: It is a finalist for Great Britain's Man Booker Prize and last week was named to the longlist of the National Book Award.

Lahiri is an expert in writing about dislocation 鈥� the feeling immigrants can have of being simultaneously two places at once and not necessarily belonging to either. 鈥淎t times it terrified her that she felt so entwined and also so alone," one character thinks of life at home with her baby. Here again, her characters struggle with emotional isolation, no matter how much they might love one another.

Udayan, the younger and more favored son, drags Subhash with him on adventures such as sneaking onto the golf course of the Tolly Club. In addition to grass as soft as moss, the golf course offers a number of features unknown to US courses, such as water buffalo, jackals, and egrets. (Subhash, of course, is the one who gets punished when they鈥檙e caught.)

鈥淗e was blind to self-constraints, like an animal incapable of perceiving certain colors,鈥� Lahiri writes of Udayan.

The younger boy鈥檚 footprints are commemorated in concrete in front of the house, 鈥渢he most enduring of Udayan鈥檚 transgressions.鈥� Unwilling to sit inside, as the boys had been told to do, until the courtyard set, he ran across a plank and slipped, 鈥渢he evidence of his path forming impressions of the soles of his feet, tapering like an hourglass at the center, the pads of the toes disconnected.鈥�

Careful Subhash doesn鈥檛 leave a trace. He "strove to minimize his existence, as other animals merged with bark or blades of grass.鈥�

Then the two go off to different universities and their closeness vanishes. Udayan joins a militant Communist group and marries against his parents鈥� wishes, while Subhash studies marsh grass in Rhode Island and waits for his parents to choose him a wife.

鈥淗e didn鈥檛 belong, but perhaps it didn鈥檛 matter,鈥� Subhash thinks of Rhode Island. 鈥淭hat it was here, in this minute but majestic corner of the world, that he could breathe.鈥�

Nonetheless, he fully expects to leave the New England coast behind out of duty to his family.

Udayan鈥檚 bland, careful letters to his brother reflect nothing of the boy Subhash knew. While Subhash can tell Udayan is concealing something, he assumes they鈥檒l resume their relationship once he finishes his studies in the US and returns to India. Then a tragedy strikes the family and Subhash returns home to find a scene he never expected.

In the 鈥渙ne act of rebellion鈥� of his life, he marries Udayan鈥檚 pregnant widow and takes her back to the US to help her escape his parents, who treat her as a pariah in their home.

That act of selflessness leads him to the love of his life: Udayan鈥檚 and Gauri鈥檚 little daughter, Bela.

Gauri, however, has 鈥渕isplaced鈥� her affection for Bela and cannot bring herself to love her new husband, who looks so eerily like his brother but whose character is completely different. (Next to Subhash鈥檚 mother, Gauri can be the most difficult character to empathize with in 鈥淭he Lowland.鈥� While her decisions can seem arbitrary and unnecessarily cruel, her emotional isolation stems in part from a secret she鈥檚 hiding, which Lahiri reveals near the novel鈥檚 end.)

The result is 鈥渁 family of solitaries,鈥� whom Lahiri follows over the next four decades as they pull away from one another and find a way to come back together.

鈥淭hough she鈥檇 been created by two people who鈥檇 loved one another, she was the result of two who never did,鈥� Bela tells a character near the end of the novel.

Once in the US, Gauri finds it easiest to be solitary. 鈥淭he ligaments that had held her life together were no longer there,鈥� Gauri thinks.

In Rhode Island, the violence that had consumed India for the past three years never even rates a headline. (Lahiri does an excellent job of catching American readers up on the Naxalite movement.) 鈥淲hat had consumed the city for the past three years, what had altered the course of her life and shattered it, was not reported here,鈥� thinks Gauri.

On a trip to the grocery store in Rhode Island, she discovers cream cheese, 鈥渨hich came in a silver wrapping, looking like a bar of soap.鈥� Thinking it might be chocolate, she buys some. 鈥淚nside the wrapper was something dense, cold, slightly sour. She broke it into pieces and ate it on its own standing in the parking lot of the grocery. Not knowing it was intended to be spread on a cracker or bread, savoring the unexpected taste and texture of it in her mouth, licking the paper clean.鈥�

Gauri also discovers the campus where Subhash works. There, she wanders for hours, reading Hobbes and Hannah Arendt in the library and sneaking into philosophy classes. 鈥淪he liked spending time in the company of people who ignored but surrounded her.鈥�

鈥淭he Lowland鈥� switches point of view between Subhash, Gauri, Bela, and Subhash鈥檚 mother, Bijoli, as Lahiri examines the cost of sacrifice and deception on each member of the family. When writing about the emotional distance separating her characters, it鈥檚 easy for a reader to feel disconnected at times, as well.

But by the end of the novel, Lahiri鈥檚 precise writing and clarity of expression ends up casting its usual spell. Subhash who, quietly and without reward, tries to care for those around him, always feels inferior to his brilliant, fiery brother. Yet it鈥檚 the gentler sibling who who ends up being the novel鈥檚 hero. 鈥淭he Lowland鈥� looks at the nature of sacrifice and love, the price of personal freedom, and what really constitutes the the greater good.

Yvonne Zipp is the Monitor's fiction critic.