HOT OFF THE PRESSES!
I have been a fan of Jhumpa Lahiri since her Pulitzer Prize-winning debut, Interpreter of Maladies in 1999. Lahiri’s latest narrator — who remains unnamed throughout the book — lives in a sleepy Italian town and the action, such as it is, follows the narrator through small encounters as she lives her daily life. The author’s great skill as a short fiction writer comes into clear focus as each vignette clearly paints each setting and introduces beautifully developed characters. There is a deep melancholy to the ramblings of the narrator’s middle-aged life. The mood of this novel is just perfect for a year of the pandemic where solitude and navel-gazing hit us all. A beautiful book that finds great meaning in small connections and celebrates the passage of time along with the concurrent push and pull of hope and longing during middle age.
Well-Read Neck 