Unaccustomed Earth 3

Megan and Amit's story ended, however with Megan angry at Amit. Throughout the course of Pam's wedding night, Amit had consumed a lot of alcohol. He was sitting at the dinner table discussing with another woman the details of Amit and Megan's marriage after they had kids. Amit replied, "Actually, it was after the second one that our marriage sort of - dissappeared" (113). The woman got angry at him and left him in haste, so he decided to go back to the hotel alone to call the girls. He ended up falling asleep and Megan got very worried when he did not return. They looked all over for him when someone finally found him sleeping in the hotel room. When he woke up the next morning she was very angry at him, and it seemed that Amit was right, that their marriage had dissappeared. A new story started up; a girl by the name of Sudha, her age advancing as the story went on, with a younger brother of about 3 years. She introduced him to alcohol when she was in college, and he had become hooked on it ever since. As they grew up, she began to find out that he was developing a drinking problem. After being admitted to college, Sudha's brother Rahul, started going downhill, skipping and failing classes. When Sudha tried to intervene, Rahul would just shut her out. Eventually he dropped out of school and his life went down the tubes; living at home and working at a laundromat. Sudha's life had just begun, she went over to study in London and fell in love with a man whom she proceeded to marry. However, she did not let him in on a lot of stuff. "And so she did not tell Roger about Rahul's drinking, about his arrest, about the fact that she had not talked to her brother in months" (150). Sudha kept many things inside, especially the fact that she had always been very protective of her brother. That is one of the themes that these stories is that the main characters always seem to keep everything inside and have a hard time expressing their true feelings to others.

Unaccustomed Earth 2

Lahiri finished Ruma's story, or so I think. She ended with flashbacks of Ruma's life, when her mother was alive and when Ruma was in highschool. There was a man, Pranab Kaku, who was also another Bengali which was rare in America, so they stuck together. Ruma believed her mother was in love with him because he made her happier than her father ever had. Lahiri described the love symptoms well, when Ruma's mother found out that Pranab Kaku was going to marry another woman, Ruma says, "The following day I say the teacup Pranab Kaku had used all this time as an ashtray in the kitchen garbage can, in pieces, and three Band-Aids taped to my mother's hand" (71). In the end, Pranab later divorces the American woman for yet another, just as Ruma's mother had predicted. Lahiri ends the story there, leaving you wanting more, and wondering if she will carry it on later in the book. Next, another story of a young married couple Megan and Amit. They are on a vacation for one of Amit's friends in college wedding. Pam, who is Amit later reveals that he was in love with for some period of time during college. They did kiss each other once in college, but then Pam shyed away from him, and that was the end of their physical relationship. They remained good friends, but ONLY friends, and went their seperate ways after college. At the wedding, Amit commented, "To this day she was the most beautiful woman he had ever known" (103). This supports the theme that not everyone gets what they want, just like in Much Ado About Nothing, how Don John tries so hard to screw everything up, but in the end he still does not get everything he wants. I can't wait to read on and hear other stories throughout the book.

Unaccustomed Earth 1

I have chosen to read Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri for my outside reading book. Starting to read, it jumps straight into the life of Ruma, who is trying to balance her life; with a husband who is hardly ever home, a 3 year old child, and one more on the way. They moved to Seattle, where Ruma knows no one and feels alone because her husband is always away at work. Ruma's mother passed away about a year ago, and only has her quiet, awkward father left. He is usually away on foreign trips, but decided to come visit. The visit was very good for all of them, it gave Ruma a break, because her father would play with her son, Akash, and he would also tend around the house.
One thing I noticed while I was reading however, is how much the characters had changed due to Ruma's mother's death. Ruma notes it too, "Though it upset her to admit it, if anything, he seemed happier now; her mother's death had lightened him, the opposite of what it had done to her" (33). Throughout the beginning of the book, Ruma talked about how much she missed her mother, and how she didn't think that it even affected her father, how he never expressed his grief for her loss. Ruma seems confused and depressed at the same time, and doesn't know how to deal with it. She asks her father to stay awhile longer, which I think would be good for them. Unfortuanatley, he does not want to, and leaves. I hope Ruma gets everything figured out with her life and am anxious to see what will happen between her and her father.