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Beginning in
America, and spilling back over memories and generations to India,
"Unaccustomed Earth" follows new lives forged in the wake
of loss. These are stories in which deeply sympathetic characters
reach pivotal moments in their frayed relationships and are forced
to navigate their way in unfamiliar landscapes. In the title story,
the death of a mother leaves a space neither daughter nor husband
knows how to fill. In 'Only Goodness' a younger brother's spiralling
alcoholism threatens to destroy his loyal sister's family. And,
in a trio of linked stories we follow the lives of a girl and boy
who, one memorable winter, share a house in suburban Massachusetts.
They travel from innocence to experience on separate, sometimes
painful paths, until they are brought together years later in a
chance meeting in Rome. With moving compassion Lahiri traces a series
of transformations: weariness into hope, secrets into sacrifices,
and grief into unforeseen love. Eight luminous stories - longer
and richer than any she has yet written - explore the heart of family
life and the immigrant experience, taking us from America to Europe,
India and Thailand.
Infused with eloquent warmth and lyrical simplicity, "Unaccustomed
Earth" confirms Jhumpa Lahiri's status as a storyteller of
unrivalled empathy.
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When naive sociology
student Sudhir Venkatesh went to find out more about urban poverty
in Chicago, the last thing he expected was to be held hostage by
a gang. And he never guessed that, after being released, he'd want
to return to find out more about them, ignoring everyone's advice
and entering a dangerous world beyond anything he'd ever experienced.
In the Robert Taylor Homes projects on Chicago's South Side, Sudhir
befriends J.T., a gang leader for the Black Kings. As their friendship
grows, he slowly gains J.T.'s trust, until one day, in order to
convince Sudhir of his own CEO-like qualities, J.T. makes him leader
of the gang. Deciding who cleans up the buildings after a party
gets out of hand is one thing, but what do you do when Billy says
that Otis lied about how much crack he sold, and somebody needs
to be punished? What's more, why does J.T. make his henchmen, the??shorties',
stay in school? When will T-Bone (in charge of gang security, takes
his job very seriously) intervene in a mob lynching? Just who does
C-Note have to pay if he wants to carry on washing cars? What is
the difference between a a??regular' hustler and a a??hype' - and
is Peanut telling him the truth about which she is? Why is Moochie
sleeping with Ms Bailey, the all-powerful president of the building,
thirty years his senior? And, when the FBI finally starts cracking
down on the Black Kings, is it time to get out - or is it too late?
Incredibly funny, and heartbreaking, this is a story of one man's
commitment really to cross the line, to understand how the people
he is studying live day to day. What he doesn't expect is to become
part of their lives
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