mbahnaf's reviews
280 reviews

"She was like that, excited and delighted by little things, crossing her fingers before any remotely unpredictable event, like tasting a new flavor of ice cream, or dropping a letter in a mailbox."

I began reading this title at a random book café just so I could sit down and kill some time. When I came to, I was reminded by the proprietors that it was time for closing up; been at it for four hours.

Jhumpa Lahiri's Pulitzer-winning debut is a collection of short-stories, each story with a distinct flavor of its own. Even though India is a constant theme in all the stories, the stories explore a diversity of themes in varying environments: failing marriages, budding relationships, illicit extra-marital trysts, travelling students, shunned and cursed women and many more.

Some of the stories are really charming. I can recall a few that have stayed with me. However, the quality of the writing felt somewhat inconsistent. That said, I'm definitely intrigued enough to explore further into Lahiri's bibliography.

Short, but still awfully boring. I haven't watched any of the film adaptations but I sure do hope the dialogue isn't anything like in the book. The protagonist finds himself on the run after being wrongly accused of murder, while the real culprits are also looking for him vehemently. There's a lot of running around, a lot of luck involved and always some shadowy figure looming close by. But it doesn't amount to anything much in the end. Yawn!

I just went through this to check if they used the buttplug.

Spoiler: They didn't.

What are buttplugs?

It's a plug.
For your butt.

End of review.