The Lowland

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri is the tale of two brothers, Subhash and Udayan Mitra. Born and raised in a suburb of Calcutta, they are inseparable as children, but when they start at the university, their lives take a sudden turn from one another. Subhash is more reserved and obedient, whereas Udayan is more mischievous and impulsive.

Udayan is not afraid to break the rules or contradict authority and becomes a member of the Naxalites—a radical group of Maoists who oppose the current Indian government due to the mistreatment of the agricultural workers and lower class. While Udayan becomes more involved in the Naxalite movement, Subhash moves to Rhode Island to pursue a PhD in environmental science.

While Subhash is in the United States, the brothers write letters to each other, where Subhash learns that Udayan eloped with a woman named Gauri. One evening, Subhash receives a telegram from his parents reporting that Udayan was killed.

For the first time in two years, Subhash travels back to his neighborhood Tollygunge, but it no longer feels like home, and his grief-stricken parents are distant and cold with him. Subhash’s parents never fully accepted Gauri, and he is alarmed by the way his parents treat her. When he learns that Gauri is pregnant with Udayan’s child, Subhash offers to marry Gauri, take her to Rhode Island, and raise the child as his own. Gauri believes that she doesn’t have any other options and accepts his offer.

Once Gauri’s daughter, Bela, is born, Gauri stays home to raise her but is distant and feels no maternal love. Though Gauri and Subhash are living as husband and wife, Gauri doesn’t love Subhash. After Gauri leaves six-year-old Bela alone in the house, Subhash and Gauri fight, and the couple starts sleeping in separate rooms. Gauri starts to take classes at the university which leads to a PhD program in Philosophy in Boston, where she commutes two days a week. Bela rarely sees her mother as Gauri is always reading or writing.

When Subhash’s father dies, he takes a six-week trip to India with 12-year-old Bela. They return home to find that Gauri has left them for a teaching job in California. Bela is devasted and becomes withdrawn. While Bela and Subhash continue to have a relationship, it is never the same as before, and Subhash blames Gauri for taking Bela away from him.

Bela continues to live a nomadic lifestyle working on farms after college, coming home occasionally. During one visit to see Subhash, she reveals she is pregnant and wants to raise the child at home with Subhash. Subhash finally confesses to Bela that he is not her biological father. Bela is furious and leaves for a week. At the end of the week, she returns; she forgives Subhash and is thankful now that she knows Udayan is her biological father. Bela stays with Subhash to raise her daughter, Meghna, and eventually meets a local farmer, Drew, who becomes a father figure to Meghna.

Subhash gets engaged to Elise, Bela’s former high school history teacher. Needing a divorce from Gauri, Subhash contacts Gauri for the first time with divorce papers sent in the mail. Gauri flies to Rhode Island to deliver the papers in person, but Bela answers the door and is upset to see her mother. Gauri then travels to India where she ends up letting go of Udayan and the past before returning to California. There, Gauri finds a letter from Bela suggesting that she, Meghna, and Gauri try to meet up again.

In the final chapters, Subhash is on his honeymoon in Ireland, thinking about his family in India. Lahiri ends the book from Udayan’s perspective; we learn about how Udayan was radicalized and his regrets in being part of the revolution.

Lahiri’s writing engages the reader as she travels quickly through time and events without sacrificing the details of each character’s life. While the entire novel is written in the third person, Lahiri brings us close to each character’s thoughts and feelings.