Book Review: Whereabouts

Jhumpa Lahiri, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Lowland" and "Interpreter of Maladies," wrote "Whereabouts." It was first written in Italian, and then the author herself translated it into English.

The novel depicts contemporary loneliness. There are 46 chapters in the story, some of which have titles like "On the Street," "In the Piazza," and so on. The story's narrator is an unidentified woman in her mid-forties who lives on her own in an unidentified city. She enjoys her time alone but is a people-watcher who wants to connect with others.

Introduction

Book Name: Whereabouts

Author: Jhumpa Lahiri

Genre: Literary Fiction

Language: English

Synopsis- Spoiler Alert!

In the novel, over nearly a year, the author describes her day-to-day activities, including trips to the office, supermarket, pool, bookstores, piazzas, museums, and coffee bars, as well as a friend's house. She fills in as a teacher at a college.

She frequents the pool frequently, stating that “my body, my heart, the universe – seems tolerable when I’m protected by water and nothing touches me. All I think about is the effort.” She occasionally takes the train to the station to visit her mother, who lives alone and is "frustrated as a wife, disdainful as a widow" because of her old age. When she was 15, she lost her father. Meeting the young little girl of two of her friends helps her to reminisce about her youth -  “she is fluent in the language her parents struggled to speak. She doesn’t look like a tourist or foreigner, she is the type that fits in anywhere. Full of dreams and plans, she believes it’s still possible to change the world”. She "did what they asked me to" at her age, which was to read books, study, and listen to her parents. Her routine life doesn't change with the seasons: "I suffer in spring." It doesn't empower yet exhausts, each blow in her life occurred in spring. Some of the time she chances upon her companion's better half and her neighbor, with whom she might have wandered into something wild, however, doesn't. She "hates the world" when she stays in a hotel room for three days. Her sessions in therapy were "like the start of a novel abandoned after the first chapter."

Throughout the book, quiet loneliness permeates the narrative. It is sometimes sad and depressing. In each chapter, there are snippets of other characters who are bizarre, egotistical, and manipulative. The narrator will occasionally experience feelings of extreme disorientation and judgment, making presumptions about people she has just met. However, readers will be able to relate in some way. The way this woman's life is depicted also reflects Lahiri's transformation:

“I’ve been writing in Italian for almost two years and I feel that I’ve been transformed, almost reborn. But the change, this new opening, is costly; like Daphne. I too find myself confined”. (from ‘In Other Words)

About the Author

Nilanjana Sudeshna "Jhumpa" Lahiri, an American writer, born on July 11, 1967, is popular for her English-language short stories, novels, and essays as well as her more recent works in Italian. Her first collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies(1999) received the PEN/Hemingway Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Her first book, The Namesake(2003) was transformed into a hit movie of the same name. Lahiri won the National Humanities Medal in 2014. From 2015 until 2022, she served as a creative writing professor at Princeton University. At her alma mater, Barnard College of Columbia University, she was appointed Millicent C. McIntosh Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing in 2022.

Self Analysis:

The anonymous protagonist of Whereabouts is an Italian woman in her 40s. The brief entries resemble diary pages very significantly. Each participant shares a story about a friend or a trip they have taken, frequently while recalling their difficult upbringing. There is no plot; instead, this intriguing woman alone makes insignificant observations. This novel is made up of brief, diary-like vignettes that are well-written and simple to read. The narrator muses on her existence, consider and criticizes others in her immediate vicinity, and recalls fragments of her past.

Famous Quotes:

• Solitude demands a precise assessment of time, I’ve always understood this. It’s like the money in your wallet: you have to know how much time you need to kill, how much to spend before dinner, and what’s left over before going to bed.

• Is there any place we’re not moving through? Disoriented, lost, at sea, at odds, astray, adrift, bewildered, confused, uprooted, turned around. I’m related to these related terms. These words are my abode, my only foothold.

• I’m amazed at our impulse to express ourselves, explain ourselves, and tell stories to one another

• Solitude: it's become my trade. As it requires a certain discipline, it's a condition I try to perfect. And yet it plagues me, it weighs on me despite my knowing it so well.

Bottom Line:

The author concentrated on a single, childless middle-aged woman who seems to be competent in her career and has created a life and house that she likes for herself. The fact that she appears to be at peace with the way she has chosen to live her life, even though she may have some regrets, was encouraging. For those who love people-watching,  this book is perfect for them. The character did a seamless and perfect job of bringing the readers into their world and showing them what they are seeing. One will be able to get the impression that they were there living the main character's life.

My rating for the book: 4/5

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Written by Jemima Sultana