i've read "hell-heaven," which is the second story in "unaccustomed earth," in the new yorker, a year or two ago, but enjoyed reading it again. this too is about a middle-class, bengali, immigrant family in the northeast u.s. whose only daughter is the first-person narrator.

here, the mother falls in love with a young, bengali graduate student at m.i.t. who befriends mother and daughter on the streets of cambridge, mass. he becomes nearly a family member of the household. there's never any hanky-panky or expression of love; the "uncle," mother, and growing daughter form a threesome; the father is neutral to the constant presence of the "uncle" in their lives, perhaps even a little relieved that his wife finally has something to do besides cooking and cleaning for the family. the "uncle" eventually marries deborah, a caucasian.

i shan't tell you more about "heaven-hell," except that it ends in a huge irony. i loved the irony. i'll let you guess what it is and post your guess here before you read the story. indeed, i liked the shorter, "hell-heaven" more than the title story.

jhumpa lahiri writes with sensitivity and subtlety about the complex emotions that appear to have been common to the previous generation of indian immigrants to the u.s., and the loveless but dutiful lives that characterized their marriages, in particular, the lives of the stay-at-home wives. having read lahiri's three books and a few new yorker articles, i am also struck by the bengali insularity that she portrays in them.

flimflam