Lowland is Lahiri’s foray into the gruesome history of India’s Naxalite movement that shook the nation in the late 60’s and the early 70’s. Instead of tracing the violent movement and its natural ebbing out, the novel focuses more on the individuals, their pangs, trauma and loss. She tries to stress on how her characters hold on, coping up and coming into terms with whatever piece of life left out for them. The siblings Subhash and Udayan who represent opposing ideologies are portrayed as exact antitheses to each other. In an astonishingly similar way, she deploys Gauri and Bela, both desperately trying to work on a torn tapestry of life that left them as who they are. In essence, Lowland is a study into the individual as opposed to the ideology of how much a catastrophe it leaves for each.
-Anjoe-
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