RaveThe Hindu\"I found Lahiri’s deeply-embedded sense of liminality present throughout this book — the houses are on the outskirts of the city, women return to Rome to relive old memories, the men sit on the outdoor tables at trattorias. The essence of Roman Stories is a dark cloud that belongs as much to the ground below as it does to the uncharted territory of the sky ... The stories often feel long-wound and unrewarding, but even non-Lahiri lovers will concur that the third section delivers. The four stories here offer the gut-punch reminiscent of her Pulitzer-winning debut book of shorts, Interpreter of Maladies, that with its silver cocktail dress pooled on the closet floor and Mr. Pirzada, the botany professor from Dhaka, carving a pumpkin. The last story, \'Dante Alighieri\' is a stunning meditation on the passage of time, and the graceful acceptance of fate. Incipit Vita Nova — Latin for \'And so begins a new life\' — is the message in its denouement. Profound for a city so proud of its ageing churches and wrinkled faces. This story, this dull golden knife through our chest, is what we have always loved Jhumpa Lahiri for.\
