AFAReads discussion

Dear reader,

When I first moved to New York nearly a decade ago, I could count the people I knew in the city on one hand, and none of them lived anywhere near me in that first apartment on West 107th and Columbus. But even though I was ostensibly alone, I felt anything but lonely. Immediately, I felt that the city—fascinating and frustrating as it was—was a constant companion.

This idea came to mind as I was reading Whereabouts (Knopf, April 2021), Jhumpa Lahiri’s latest novel and our August AFAReads pick. In it, a single, unnamed middle-aged writer and professor in an unnamed Italian city reflects on her broader place in the world. Unlike Lahiri’s earlier works—including the Pulitzer Prize–winning Interpreter of Maladies—which focus on the lives of South Asian immigrants, Whereabouts has a distinctly European feel to it, despite the anonymization of, well, nearly everything. It does, however, still feel personal: Lahiri, who moved to Rome in 2012, initially wrote the novel in Italian and published it in 2018 under the title Dove mi trovo (“Where I find myself”) before translating it herself into English.

As a book, Whereabouts holds a concert of contradictions and has no clean plot; instead, it’s feelings and emotions and scenes laid out as concentric circles, with truths emerging in the overlap. Through 46 chapters focused on specific locations (“At the Piazza,” “At the Beautician,” “By the Sea”) we learn about our narrator and find meaning in the mundanity. We feel her peace in solitude, but sometimes, her loneliness amid her aloneness. Perhaps most strongly, we see place as more than just a constant backdrop to our lives, but a character with its own rhythms and riddles.

Whereabouts is the slim, rare novel that manages to be both concentrated and lyrical at once. As I read it, I got the sense that every word was chosen carefully and deliberately. Even though I first finished reading the book in May, its idea of being alone—but not lonely—has stayed with me. And as many of us resume travel, Whereabouts is also a fitting meditation on the comforts of a place that’s always there. It reminds me, in a small way, that no matter where we ramble, there really is no place like home.

Yours in whereabouts,
Katherine LaGrave
Deputy editor

Hi, Is this book being considered for the book club by any chance? 😀

Update: I noticed that this book is marked as “currently reading” as of August 1st. Is there an end date and meeting scheduled? I can’t seem to find a link to post with details. Thank you!