One thing I noticed in her first two works is her brilliant descriptions of food and cooking, so much so that I used to be amazed at her culinary knowledge. I was looking forward to the same, but found that missing in Unaccustomed Earth.
There are two parts in the book: the first one has 4 stories, and the 2nd part has 3 stories. I did not realize till the middle of the last story that the 3 stories in the 2nd part are actually related: based on the same two protagonists. Each story in the trilogy are spaced apart by a number of years .You could call me dim for not figuring this out earlier, but these stories are just like the previous ones, and each one could be read without any bearing on the previous ones, and none of them give any direct indication of a connection, except for the names of the characters (which could have been anything in any of the stories without affecting the plot). The first two parts are narrated by the two individual characters, based around their separate lives. The third story is narrated by the author, linking the two characters together finally. Being a fan of different narrative styles, I loved this.
Finally, Jhumpa proves that she can write not only about life in the US, but also Europe, where a considerable portion of the final story is based.
Brilliant piece of writing. Highly recommended reading.
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