“So that she began to see herself more clearly, as a thin film of dust was wiped from a sheet of glass.” — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share Image
She learned that an act intended to express love could have nothing to do with it. That her heart and her body… — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share Image
“With her own hand she'd painted herself into a corner, and then out of the picture altogether.” — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share Image
“The future haunted but kept her alive; it remained her sustenance and also her predator.” — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share Image
“The fact that the yellow chintz armchair in the living room clashed with the blue-and-maroon Turkish carpet no longer bothered her.” — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share Image
She is stunned that in this town there are no sidewalks to speak of, no streetlights, no public transportation, no stores for… — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share Image
She has given birth to vagabonds. She is the keeper of all these names and numbers now, numbers she once knew by… — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share Image
“She wished the days and months ahead of her would end. But the rest of her life continued to present itself, time… — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share Image
“There was the focus of seeking pleasure, and the numbing effect, once they were finished, removing all specific thoughts from her brain.… — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share Image
“She wanted to shut her eyes to it. She wished the days and months ahead of her would end. But the rest… — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share Image
And yet he had loved her. A Bookish girl heedless of her beauty, unconscious of her effect. She'd been prepared to live… — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share Image
And yet she could not forgive herself. Even as an adult, she wished only that she could go back and change things:… — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share Image
She supposed that all those years of loving a person who was dishonest had taught her a few things. — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share Image
“Assured by his grades and his apparent indifference to girls, his parents don't suspect Gogol of being, in his own fumbling way, an American… — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share
...that in spite of living in a mansion an American is not above wearing a pair of secondhand pants, bought for fifty cents. — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share
He owned an expensive camera that required thought before you pressed the shutter, and I quickly became his favorite subject, round-faced, missing teeth, my… — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share
If I stop to think about fans, or best-selling, or not best-selling, or good reviews, or not-good reviews, it just becomes too much. It's… — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share
“This tradition doesn't exist for Bengalis, naming a son after father or grandfather, a daughter after mother or grandmother. This sign of respect in… — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share
I wanted to pull away from the things that marked my parents as being different. — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share
“Ashoke suspects that Mrs. Jones (the secretary at his new job as a professor) ...is about his own mother's age. Mrs. Jones leads a… — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share
But she has gathered that Americans, in spite of their public declarations of affection, in spite of their miniskirts and bikinis, in spite of… — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share
The sky was different, without color, taut and unforgiving. But the water was the most unforgiving thing, nearly black at times, cold enough, I… — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share
“In those six weeks I regarded her arrival as I would the arrival of a coming month, or season - something inevitable, but meaningless… — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share
There were times Ruma felt closer to her mother in death than she had in life, an intimacy born simply of thinking of her… — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share
“Writing down call numbers with short pencils, searching up and down aisles that would turn dark when the timers on the lights expired. She… — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share
Winning the Pulitzer is wonderful and it's an honor and I feel so humbled and so grateful, but I think that I'll think of… — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share
He tries to peel the image from the sticky yellow backing, to show her the next time he sees her, but it clings stubbornly,… — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share
“If I stop to think about fans, or bestselling, or not bestselling, or good reviews, or not-good reviews, it just becomes too much. It's… — Jhumpa Lahiri Copy Share
