The Lowland

by Jhumpa Lahiri

Once, within this enclave, there were two ponds, oblong, side by side. Behind them was a lowland spanning a few acres.

On cloudy days, at intervals, the sound of a foghorn pierced the air, as conch shells were blown in Calcutta to ward off evil.

Just as vs. as, perhaps.

The paint was no longer fresh, the wood beneath it having absorbed so much salt from the air, so many storms that had traveled up the Rhode Island coast.

The sentence structure is odd.

Plato says the purpose of philosophy is to teach us how to die.

They arrived at the start of the monsoon season. In Bengali it was called barsha kal.

The unhappiness between her parents: this has been the most basic awareness of her life.

A spider reaches the liberty of space by means of its own thread.

Suggestions for Further Reading Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah; Anne Cherian, A Good Indian Wife; Anita Desai, Fasting, Feasting; Nell Freudenberger, The Newlyweds; Khaled Hosseini, And the Mountains Echoed; Amit Majmudar, The Abundance; Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance; Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things; Salmon Rushdie, Midnight’s Children