A great novel, or any piece of art really, picks you up from where you are and immerses you in another place.

Jhumpa Lahiri’s “The Lowland” does just that.  Instead of riding the Metro into DC, I got to enjoy a few weeks of being in India during the middle of last century with the story of two very different brothers and the events that unfolded from their divergent paths.

Despite their differences, Subhash and his older brother Udayan were inseparable as kids, exploring their section of Calcutta including the off-limits to them country club dominated by British ex-pats.

They were both smart and curious, often getting in trouble at school for being too inquisitive during class.  The brothers at one point build a shortwave radio to get a better sense of the world beyond theirs.

“They searched for any foreign signal.  News bulletins from Radio Moscow, Voice of America, Radio Peking, the BBC.”

Always nice to see mention of my employer show up in a book!  But Subhash’s goal was to get an education, in the U.S., while Udayan was pulled toward Communist ethos and fighting for justice at home.

The split decisions were what each felt he had to do, but left them both with internal strife they sought to soothe elsewhere.  Lahiri plunges you into these scenes in a elegantly descriptive ways, like when she describes Subhash’s confusion about a woman.

“He longed for sleep, but it would not immerse him; that night the waters he sought for his repose were deep enough to wade in, but not to swim.”

Is there a better way to depict the frustration of insomnia?  You can even picture him tossing and turning in hopes that another position will somehow make the water rise higher.

The plot of this story includes so much about family with inter-generational elements as well as social and political issues about early India and the remnants of its colonial master.  And did I mention it’s beautifully written?

Highly recommend this one.