MixedThe Washington PostThis grand sweep of 30 years is the plot of the novel, and it is punctuated with lightly comic scenes that give us glimpses into what it really means to live this life … As Gogol grows up, his first experiences with girls and sex are affecting, blissfully ordinary … This is a fine novel from a superb writer, but I do have to say that for all the illuminating moments and for all the precision of the details, the events of the book are oddly undramatic. Lahiri tells the story from a great narrative distance, and in a present tense that flattens the temporal context of events.
