In Other Words

Many people look through books as a gateway to another life they could live in or if it can be relatable to themselves. In Jhumpa Lahiri’s book, In Other Words, it is a memoir of her life in the struggle of what she goes through in learning the Italian language. While there are a few times in the book where Lahiri sounds depressed and belittles herself when struggling to learn a new language, she often reminds the reader of why she learns and perseveres through that challenge to reach her goal. It is not a made up story, but of a tale of a woman who touched the language twenty years ago finally being able to be a part of it through writing and speaking.
Throughout the book, Lahiri gives these set imageries of the struggle she faces when coming …show more content…
The first thing she did was get tutors to teach her Italian and she would just speak to them in Italian. She had three tutors, but it was not until the third tutor that she started to feel like she was really learning their language. The tutor was an old widowed lady and they would talk about everything and anything from topics about the world to how their day was (Lahiri, 31). Lahiri vowed not to use the English language and only use Italian for communication. Everyday for six months before she went to live in Italy she would have a list of words in Italian with definition, she would write in her diary, read and speak only in Italian (Lahiri, 39). Even with passion as part of the reason to learn it also takes hard work and determination as it teaches you this lesson in the …show more content…
I recommend you do not read it as the book is too depressing when Lahiri talks about herself in the book. She keeps using imagery like of a wall, bridges, being obsessive with the words, or distanced by a lake as a constant reminder to the reader that they may never fully know or learn a new language. She even goes as far as saying she has no identity, who wanders, how the native people will reject her, and that in itself is depressing how she belittles herself. Though through content she also provides how she persevered in her struggles with hard work to get to the end result which was fluently speaking and writing Italian. Lahiri also gives the concept of identity in the book which either can be helpful or not to a person wanting to fill that void. After all is said and done if you do pick up the book and read it just know that you as a reader will have to stick with all the bad, melancholic, and gloomy feeling Lahiri points out in order to get to the