The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

Like the last book I read, We Are Water, this book has another ‘bad’ mother as its central character. But it is much more than that. It tells the story of a young Indian woman who marries a Maoist in India, only to lose him to the revolution. She is left pregnant and vulnerable when his brother steps in to marry her. They go to America to work and raise the child. The rest of the book is about the broken relationships in this small family and about the influence that the dead first brother has over their lives. Jhumpa Lahiri is a very sensitive writer, who uses the language beautifully. The story line is fairly sparse – these people simply live their lives – but that story is well told and her descriptions of Rhode Island in particular are exquisite.

We Are Water by Wally Lamb

Wally Lamb’s books seem to focus on people with emotional problems. This one is about an artist, Annie Oh, and her ex husband Orion, and her kids, most of whom are pretty disturbed. The story centres around Annie’s impending marriage to her new partner, this time a woman called Viveca. It’s told through the eyes of several people, including some who aren’t even members of the family. It’s a book about secrets and how holding on to them can corrupt and pervert your life. And of course Annie’s secrets have done just that, with some quite devastating consequences for the people around her. It all unravels as the wedding plans move forward. This is a huge book but pretty readable – sometimes a bit too wordy for me and I did find myself skipping over pages where all that dialogue and description and soul searching became a bit unnecessary. Still, I liked this book and it made a good read.