“What does a word mean? And a life? In the end, it seems to me, the same thing. Just as a word can have many dimensions, many nuances, great complexity, so, too, can a person, a life. Language is the mirror, the principal metaphor. Because ultimately the meaning of a word, like that of a person, is boundless, ineffable.”
This quote isn’t from Roman Stories but just something that Jhumpa Lahiri has said and to me, this is the reason that her voice resonates so well with me.
Summary — Roman Stories is an urgent and affecting portrait of Rome in nine stories featuring characters, both native and non-native, who inhabit the city without ever feeling fully at home.
I took this picture back in the fall when I had intended to read it but for one reason or another it stayed on my TBR stack until January when I knew I had the time to dedicate and savor it. I mainly listened to the audio (thank you @prh) and this is the format I highly recommend — there is a full cast, a different narrator for each story. Before I started a short story, I made sure to look how long it was and then I’d wait until I knew I had that amount of time to sit uninterrupted with the story. This worked so well and really added to the immersive experience Lahiri brings to the page.
I’ve almost completed Lahiri’s backlist, the only two I have left are The Lowlands and In Other Words (which I believe is her debut). I’m really looking forward to both, hopefully this year. Do you have a favorite of Lahiri’s books?
Find Roman Stories at the publisher →
Toni Rocchetti is a copy editor helping authors strengthen their narratives, deepen character arcs, and find the story that’s already in the draft. She reads 80+ books a year across literary fiction, memoir, and nonfiction — and writes about what she’s learning along the way. Work with Toni →
