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"Hell-Heaven" is Jhumpa Lahiri's ode to the intimate secrets of closest kin, from the acclaimed collection Unaccustomed Earth.
Pranab Chakraborty was a fellow Bengali from Calcutta who had washed up on the shores of Central Square. Soon he was one of the family. From the winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, a staggeringly beautiful and precise story about a Bengali family in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the impossibilities of Hell-Heaven, Jhumpa Lahiri
"Hell-Heaven" is Jhumpa Lahiri's ode to the intimate secrets of closest kin, from the acclaimed collection Unaccustomed Earth.
Pranab Chakraborty was a fellow Bengali from Calcutta who had washed up on the shores of Central Square. Soon he was one of the family. From the winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, a staggeringly beautiful and precise story about a Bengali family in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the impossibilities of love, and the unanticipated pleasures and complications of life in America.
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز دوم ماه دسامبر سال 2011 میلادی
عنوان: از جهنم تا بهشت؛ نویسنده: جومپا لامیری ؛ مترجم: مریم صبوری؛ تهران، کوله پشتی، 1389، در 52 ص؛ شابک: 9786005337846؛ موضوع: داستانهای کوتاه از نویسندگان هندی تبار بریتانیایی آمریکایی - سده 21 م
جهنم - بهشت یکی از داستانهای کتاب «خاک غریب» است. این مجموعه داستان که سال 2008 میلادی منتشر شده، همانند دیگر کتاب‌های «لاهیری» داستان مهاجران هند و بنگال است، که در آمریکا زندگی می‌کنند. داستان «جهنم - بهشت» از این مجموع،ه که به صورت جداگانه نیز منتشر شده است، داستانی از زبان دختری به نام «یوشا» است، که در خانواده ای «بنگالی» در «آمریکا» زندگی می‌کند. داستان درباره ی آشنایی جوانی به نام «پراناب چاکرابوتی» با خانواده ی «یوشا»، به ویژه مادرش «آپارنا» و تعاملات میان آنها میباشد، است. نویسنده با هوشمندی از روایت دخترکی سود برده، که تغییرات مادرش را با دقت زیر نظر دارد، و تحولات روحی او را هرچند نمود عملی و بیرونی ندارند، درک می‌کند، در بخشی از داستان، او در این باره می‌گوید: «آن‌موقع نمی‌دانستم که سر زدن‌های عمو پراناب چیزی بود که مادرم تمام طول روز منتظرش بود، چیزی که باعث می‌شد او ساری نو بپوشد، و در انتظار آمدنش، موهایش را شانه کند. و نمی‌دانستم که از پیش برنامه ی تنقلات نامحدودی که می‌خواست با آنها از او پذیرایی کند، را می‌چید. نمی‌دانستم که برای لحظه ای زندگی می‌کرد، که صدای «بودی!» گفتن او را، از ایوان بشنود، و اینکه روزهایی که حواسش نبود مادر کاملاً قبراق و سرزنده بود.»؛ چکیده: «پراناب چاکرابورتی دانشجوی هندی دانشگاه ام.آی.تی. است که درذهن دارد به کلکته برگردد. او دچار غم غربت شده است، و از زندگی در «امریکا» عذاب می‌کشد. روزی او در یکی از خیابان‌های بوستون، دختری به نام «یوشا» و مادر بنگالی اش «آپارنا» را می‌بیند. او آنها را تعقیب می‌کند، و سرانجام با این خانواده طرح دوستی می‌ریزد. «آپارنا» خودش هم در غم غربت دست و پا می‌زند، و احساس تنهایی می‌کند. او از پذیرایی از «پراناب» در خانه شان، خوشحال است. کم کم «پراناب» جایش را در این خانواده باز می‌کند، و «یوشا» او را عمو صدا می‌کند. او نیز «آپارنا» را «بودی (کلمه ای که برای همسر برادر بزرگ‌تر به کار می‌رود)» صدا می‌زند. «آپارنا» و همسرش، نگرش‌های جداگانه ای نسبت به زندگی دارند، و مشترکاتی با هم ندارند. کم کم «آپارنا» نوعی احساس یگانگی به «پراناب» پیدا می‌کند، تا حدی که وقتی «پراناب» با زنی به نام «دبورا» آشنا می‌شود، نسبت به او احساس رشک می‌کند، و رفتاری خصومت آمیز با او دارد. «پراناب» و «دبورا»، با هم ازدواج می‌کنند، و زندگی آنها مسیر جداگانه ای را در پیش می‌گیرد.»؛ ا. شربیانی
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This is still one of the best stories I have ever read.
It makes one ponder about one's parent - the secret love in their heart, their despairs and joys, their reasons for surviving...
What a very lovely and surgically sharp slice of her mother's soul...
I forget to mention
Very detailed yet barely sketched description of her mother's attachment to a young man. Some of the details come through her girlish childish eyes, others are filled in as she grows up and the final pieces come into place a couple of decades later, through her mother's confidences.It makes one ponder about one's parent - the secret love in their heart, their despairs and joys, their reasons for surviving...
What a very lovely and surgically sharp slice of her mother's soul...
I forget to mention the well sketched Bengali culture, so many immigrants from other cultures have lived through similar struggles of assimilation in this land.
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It is beautifully written, its words flowing of the page with consumate ease to deliver a poignant, heart rendering story of intergenerational love, of love in all its different forms criss-crossing between cultures, between the generations, and its power to transform people.
Told from the viewpoint of Usha, an Indian woman whose family lives in the United States, the narrator reflects on a time period when a man who was from Calcutta came to the United States and befriended her family in Boston
I happen to find this title via Amazon's Vintage Shorts Series. I confess I knew nothing about this author or her works before reading, but after reading Hell Heaven, I will be eager to try some of her other longer works. This was an impressive short story from Jhumpa Lahiri.Told from the viewpoint of Usha, an Indian woman whose family lives in the United States, the narrator reflects on a time period when a man who was from Calcutta came to the United States and befriended her family in Boston. As time goes on, and as they get closer, it becomes clear that Usha's mother begins to fall in love with this man. Without giving too much away, there is a sudden shift about midway through the story, and the significance of the title is revealed.
What I particularly loved about this story is Lahiri's storytelling ability. There is such a smooth and natural flow to this story, with such depth, feeling and precision that it just draws the reader in to become emotionally invested all the way through and in the final outcome. Although this work is only a mere twenty seven pages long, it has such depth that it could be the basis of a full-lengthed novel.
There are so many quotables from this story too, where we gain insight into the narrator's point of view. Here are some examples:
(reminiscing over a picture)"They are still the pictures of myself I like best, for they convey that confidence of youth I no longer possess…"
(in reference to her father)"He was wedded to his work, his research, and he existed in a shell neither my mother nor I could penetrate."
Within Hell Heaven are such powerful themes as coming of age, familial relations and conflict, love, and the examination of different cultures.
Impressive short story and I'm glad I found it. I'll look forward to reading more from this author.
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One because it's a tiny book with hardly 30 pages and secondly because it is from one of my fav authors.
The story of indianness in a foreign land. Probably the one book I finished in one sitting.
One because it's a tiny book with hardly 30 pages and secondly because it is from one of my fav authors.
The story of indianness in a foreign land. ...more
Pranab Chakraborty wasn't technically my father's younger brother. He was a fellow Bengali from Calcutta who had washed up on the barren shores of my parents' social life in the early seventies, when they lived in a rented apartment in Central Square and could number their acquaintances on one hand.
From Daily Lit:
"Hell-Heaven" appears in beloved and bestselling author Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth. The acclaimed collection explores the secrets at the heart of family life. It
Pranab Chakraborty wasn't technically my father's younger brother. He was a fellow Bengali from Calcutta who had washed up on the barren shores of my parents' social life in the early seventies, when they lived in a rented apartment in Central Square and could number their acquaintances on one hand.
From Daily Lit:
"Hell-Heaven" appears in beloved and bestselling author Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth. The acclaimed collection explores the secrets at the heart of family life. It enters the worlds of sisters and brothers, fathers and mothers, daughters and sons, friends and lovers. Rich with the signature gifts that have established Jhumpa Lahiri as one of our most essential writers, it exquisitely renders the most intricate workings of the heart and mind.
It's almost impossible not to fall in love with the very touching stories written by Jhumpa Lahiri.
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p.s. this wasn't a cheat book I used to reach half-way of my goal, I'm really happy that I read this.
I started reading this cause I thought its ratings were crazy, but I hadn't read anything like this before. it was strange getting these paragraphs striking me with emotions I didn't know I had, as relateable as it on its strange grounds. so many beautifully written words have strike home so hard and unexpectedly.p.s. this wasn't a cheat book I used to reach half-way of my goal, I'm really happy that I read this.
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I read Lahari's Namesake about 5years ago and was not quite impressed. However, this book is different. I liked the subtlety with which emotions are portrayed. Nothing sleazy or explicit.
I read a free copy of this book on www.dailylit.comI read Lahari's Namesake about 5years ago and was not quite impressed. However, this book is different. I liked the subtlety with which emotions are portrayed. Nothing sleazy or explicit.
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She is my favorite author & this short writing has her typical Bengali family living in US and links to Ivy league signature!
It does seems as if I read this story before, though I wasn't reticent to read on though. It's a pleasurable read, familiar and warm. I love her characters and their movements through time.
Curiously paced, but familiar and pleasurableIt does seems as if I read this story before, though I wasn't reticent to read on though. It's a pleasurable read, familiar and warm. I love her characters and their movements through time.
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Very short pleasant read, but not too exciting and seems somewhat familiar, even thought I've never read Jhumpa Lahiri before. I love to read about conflicting identities and the themes of cultural identities/divides, family, and immigrant experience are touched upon in this story.
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The lucidity with which the author captures the essence of a Bengali woman, her dressing sense (especially where
A 30 odd page story by Jhumpa Lahiri, stands out for me primarily due to the organic nature of how the character of the narrator's mother "Aparna" evolves. The pyramid like widening of the story, which starts with the narrator describing her daily school routine and slowly widening over the pages to give us a glimpse into the lives of the Indian diaspora in the US is truly enchanting.The lucidity with which the author captures the essence of a Bengali woman, her dressing sense (especially where the author describes safety pins attached to her bangles which can later be used either as hair pins or to string her petticoat), her make up, her love for the food from her homeland, her choices in music, art, politics, movies etc enables viewers to sympathize with her. Her tryst with her tradition and her surroundings, the expectations she had before marriage and the bland life she is living now is all reinforced constantly over the story.
The story despite delving into different aspects of life never manages to wither the melancholic undertones that bind the readers. Aparna's unquenched love for Pranab, her interesting marriage, the generation gap that she has with her daughter, the cultural gap with Pranab's wife Deborah, offer readers something to associate themselves with.
The story climaxes after Deborah and Pranab have undergone a divorce because of Pranab finding love in another already wed Bengali woman. Deborah discusses with Aparna her life after her divorce and the effort she had put into her conjugal life as a reparation to Pranab's severed ties with his family. The reminiscence that Aparna has on realizing how both of them, Deborah and herself have had their heart broken by the same man and how she had almost given up her life on realizing the failed prospect of uniting with him is truly heart wrenching.
...moreLahiri graduated from South Kingstown High School and later received her B.A. in English literature from Barnard College in 1989. She then received multiple d
Nilanjana Sudeshna "Jhumpa" Lahiri was born in London and brought up in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. Brought up in America by a mother who wanted to raise her children to be Indian, she learned about her Bengali heritage from an early age.Lahiri graduated from South Kingstown High School and later received her B.A. in English literature from Barnard College in 1989. She then received multiple degrees from Boston University: an M.A. in English, an M.A. in Creative Writing, an M.A. in Comparative Literature and a Ph.D. in Renaissance Studies. She took up a fellowship at Provincetown's Fine Arts Work Center, which lasted for the next two years (1997-1998).
In 2001, she married Alberto Vourvoulias-Bush, a journalist who was then Deputy Editor of TIME Latin America Lahiri currently lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children. She has been a Vice President of the PEN American Center since 2005.
Lahiri taught creative writing at Boston University and the Rhode Island School of Design. Much of her short fiction concerns the lives of Indian-Americans, particularly Bengalis.
She received the following awards, among others:
1999 - PEN/Hemingway Award (Best Fiction Debut of the Year) for Interpreter of Maladies;
2000 - The New Yorker's Best Debut of the Year for Interpreter of Maladies;
2000 - Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her debut Interpreter of Maladies
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Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25519488-hell-heaven
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