“I’m not like that when I get older, I leave, but I always stay here.”
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri's new novel, her first in five years

“A writer who has been deprived of his own language is as good as dead, so how can he do such a thing voluntarily?” (Novelist Kim Yeon-su) would answer this question like this.
“Change creates the framework of our existence” (This Little Book is Always Bigger Than Me).
Jhumpa Lahiri, a novelist who took on an adventure as a writer through her first collection of prose, "This Little Book is Always Bigger Than Me," written in Italian, a foreign language rather than her native English.
As expected, he published his second collection of prose, 『The Clothes Books Wear』, in Italian, and finally published his first novel in Italian.
"Where I Am" is the author's latest work and fifth novel, published five years after the full-length novel "The Lowlands" published in the United States in 2013.

Jhumpa Lahiri is an Indian-American writer who won the Pulitzer Prize at the age of thirty-three for her first collection of short stories, not a novel, and for her work that addresses the question of identity as a "person living in America" ​​rather than an "American."
Through 『Blessed Home』 『Love Behind the Name』 『Just a Good Man』 『The Lowcountry』, he swept many prestigious awards including the Pulitzer Prize, O. Henry Award, PEN/Hemingway Award, and Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, and recorded national bestsellers, establishing himself as a representative American writer who is trusted and loved by both critics and readers.
In 2015, he received the National Humanities Medal from former U.S. President Obama.


In "This Little Book is Always Bigger Than Me," she honestly reveals the process of choosing and learning Italian as a new means of expression that would fill the void within her and realize her self, connecting it to her life. In "The Clothes Books Wear," she also tells a thrilling story with unique and classical reflections on book covers.
And through 『Where I Am』, he once again presents the unstable identity and the memories of a moving being in his uniquely delicate and beautiful writing style.
It is a great joy to witness her steady steps as she transcends boundaries, discovers her own language, and through it, pioneers a completely new world.

Even though I don't share my life with anyone, just a warm hug is enough.
Just give each other a light kiss on the cheek, go for a walk, and walk together for a while.
We know without saying a word that if we want to, we can go down any wrong and useless path.
--- p.18

The two of us also become shadows projected on the wall.
An everyday scene that is difficult to capture.
--- p.20

This is a place to stay for a while.
I can't settle down in here.
--- p.22

He died two years ago.
He didn't die here, but something about him remains, so I think this room is a tomb.
--- p.23

This woman has no companion.
No caregiver, no friend, no husband.
I'm afraid that twenty years from now, when I find myself in a hospital waiting room like this woman, I'll notice that no one is there with me.
--- p.37

Enjoying loneliness has become my specialty.
It's a matter of training.
I try to fully embrace loneliness, but it still hurts, and even though I've gotten used to it, it still leaves me confused at times.
--- p.44

Despite my mother's obsession with me, she doesn't care how I see things.
It was this gap that taught me true loneliness.
--- p.45

I am far from life in the water.
Thoughts melt away and flow smoothly without any obstacles.
Water protects me
Because nothing touches it, the body, the mind, and the entire universe seem to become tolerable.
Observe the play of light flowing like smoke beneath your body, projecting uneasy light and shade onto the bottom of the pool.
I am surrounded by elements that regenerate me.
My mother wouldn't be able to survive in the water.
--- p.60

We speak of misery in this damp, rusty environment, where our women show each other their naked, wet bodies, the wounds on their breasts and bellies, the bruises on their thighs, and the moles on their backs.
Complain about your husband, children, and aging parents.
Express forbidden thoughts without guilt.

As I feel that loss and unhappiness, I think that the water in the pool is not so clear anymore.
This water knows pain and suffering, and is polluted.
Even the water that flows back in is invaded by an unknown anxiety.
All that pain, like water that sometimes enters the ears, never flows out again.
No, it is stored in the mind and spreads to every corner of the body. --- p.62~63

Even though we are now connected as one, I try to look only at her, knowing that we are separate beings.
For twenty minutes, this woman stands between me and the mirror, protecting me from my image, from my sorrow.
In the end, at least for this moment, I feel beautiful.
--- p.71

Every morning and every evening, we wait for each other even though we didn't plan to.
For three days, this silent relationship brought me, however faintly, into reconciliation with the world.
--- p.76~77

If you think of the most beautiful word, it's probably somewhere, somewhere in a jewel box.
--- p.105~106

It's true.
I don't need anything else.
The affection he keeps for me in a corner of his heart is enough.
--- p.117

I look at the frowning sky that covers the sea and melts into the horizon, at the peace beyond this chaos.
No one but me realizes the brilliance of the sea.
--- p.119~120

There is a loud noise outside.
The roar of the wind and the sound of the sea, the sound of explosions that seemed to consume everything.
Why is it shaking
I wonder if sound can soothe our hearts like this.
--- p.121

The image of two people connected by a string moves me.
Only then can we understand the commitment and connected life between them.
I think of the substance that flows within us, that must be circulated and regularly eliminated.
Hidden, ugly, but important tasks.
--- p.127

Then, I wake up in the middle of the night at the same time every time.
Because of the silence, as if a mouse had died.
At that moment, there were no cars running on the street and no people heading anywhere.
Sleep gradually fades away and leaves me.
Anyone, anyone, I'm waiting for someone to appear.
The thoughts that come into that dark hour are always the darkest and most vivid.
The first rays of morning light scatter my dark thoughts, and the silence, along with the dark sky, holds me until I hear the sound of my life partner passing beneath the house again.
--- p.136

The shade available to anyone was more of a defeat than a rescue.
If you think about it, the sea is always a wild element that must be endured or overcome, an element that is desired or hated.
Even though I don't have any smart brothers or beautiful sisters to compare myself to, I'm careful not to be in the shadows.
You cannot escape the harsh shadow of this season or the shadow of your own family.
At the same time, I don't have anyone's kind shadow.
--- p.142

As I think about that, all the bags suddenly feel like giant books.
Large, untitled, meaningless books in a library for monsters, giants, and fools.
--- p.151

Step by step, it takes me away from danger until my misguided love is broken and I no longer miss our flawed love story.
--- p.160~161

But there was something that pushed me through the armor of my life, just as the dog dragged me along the villa path.
I gave in to the impulse.
I already know the atmosphere and humor of this place too well to pass up.
But today I'm lazy, caught up in that feeling deep inside that refuses to go away.
--- p.167

I'm not like that when I get older, I leave but I always stay here.
These two sentences momentarily disturb my gloomy mind, like a gust of wind shaking tree branches and rustling leaves.
--- p.187

Ultimately, the environment – ​​physical space, light, walls – has nothing to do with it.
It doesn't matter whether it's under a clear sky, in the rain, or in clear water on a summer day.
Whether it's inside a train, a car, or an airplane flying through clouds of various shapes scattered here and there like a swarm of jellyfish.
Rather than staying, I am always moving, waiting to arrive, to re-enter, or to leave.
A small suitcase at your feet, piled up and then unpacked, a cheap handbag containing a book.
Is there a place where we can stay without passing by?
--- p.189

Lost, lost, bewildered, disoriented, adrift, confused, dizzy, floundering, uprooted, floundering.
I found myself in this relationship with words again.
This is where I live, these are the words that put me down in the world.

--- p.189~190