It's the first Jhumpa Lahiri work I read and didn't know what to expect as a book featuring Rome can also be a sort of tourist guide with a plot.
It excedeed my expectations as there's Rome, there's emotion, stories, people and an excellent storytelling that kept all part together and made me love what I read.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This is a collection of stories about subtle shifts in attitudes, chilling moments that reveal the vicious edge of class, racism, and betrayals.

The themes and plot development in the stories are solid, but I am not too crazy about Lahiri’s voice. She has an authorial voice so strong that all her characters end up sounding the same, especially the first-person narratives. Male characters are entirely unconvincing.

She observed the world with only one pair of eyes. Her prose is consistently meticulous and serious, but without a hint of humour or colour, and this really got on my nerves. I also find that she fails to recreate a sense of place with that antiseptic voice. Some of the stories are similar to Interpreters of Maladies, and they could just as well be set in New York or Rome or some other city.

I wanted to love this, but it just missed the mark for me. The lack of detail in a number of the stories really threw me off - naming people only by initial, or alluding to Rome but without any specifics, it was very hard to get a sense of the characters and places. I loved the idea behind it, about being about a place rather than specific people but I felt that the detail wasn’t enough to pull this off - it just left me wanting more information.

Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri is her first short story collection translated from Italian into English, and her first work to publish since Whereabouts was translated into English.

I first fell in love with Lahiri's work when I read Unaccustomed Earth, a short story collection written and published in English. Yet the first of her novels I read was Whereabouts, which she wrote in Italian, and had a distinctly different feel. The prose felt more spare and there was an extraordinarily haunting sense of isolation within the text. Roman Stories is the third of her works I have read.

The stories are written with a similar spareness of prose, but without capturing that universal feeling I so loved in Whereabouts. Instead, there is more focus on the particular, which is unsurprising given the title of the collection: Roman Stories; stories of Rome, stories set in Rome, stories of Romans, or people living in/from Rome. There are a thousand ways to interpret this adjective.

As with any collection, some stories are better than others. Characters pass by under her pen, adding to the millions dwelling in the city, inhabiting their estrangement from each other, from the nation, and from the reader.

While I was perhaps hoping to relive some of the beauty and emotion of Whereabouts, I enjoyed Roman Stories for their variety, and for Lahiri's meditative writing.

Thanks to Picador and Netgalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

As a long-time Lahiri fan it’s always a warm welcome to come back to her writing. This book of stories is just as captivating and intensely readable as her other work. I was intrigued by this collection since I heard that she moved to Italy to soak up the language and the culture and taught herself to write in Italian. Now she takes Rome, and turns it into a character as well as an expansive setting for her new book. Highly recommend to all lovers of literature.

Roman Stories is a collection of short stories woven around the themes of displacement, being an outsider looking in, and constantly straddling two worlds. You might think that since these are a constant in Lahiri's work, these subjects would feel worn and tired. You would be wrong. In fact, with daily flows of migrants escaping conflict and bleak futures, these topics have never seemed more urgent.

None of the characters are named nor their countries of origin revealed, but through Lahiri's deft writing, you
can tell who enjoys certain privileges accorded to them by their skin colour and who feels almost as unsafe in their country of supposed refuge as they did in their native lands.

The first story is The Boundary, centered on a young girl who tells us about her family and their life in the middle of nowhere Italy. The simple and straightforward language of a child casually describing a life-changing event has a powerful effect and encapsulates the style and mood of this collection,. Each story is written in deceptively simple language, which often surprised me by the emotional weight they carried. The beauty of the language is punctured by the random acts of violence, which erupt seemingly out of nowhere, but which the astute reader recognises is like lava roiling beneath the surface, which one day has to escape.

The last story Dante Alighieri, seems to pull all the strands of the individual stories together: Some of us are destined to hover between two worlds in perpetuity in a ghost-like existence, never fulling inhabiting either; Tragedy is never too far away from most of us, although it looks different for each person; and - most unnervingly - life rarely turns out the way you expect.

I read this collection quickly, but I could just as well have dined on it for weeks or months. Such is the magic of Jhumpa Lahiri.

I received the ARC from NetGalley to review.

Beautiful collection of short stories, where to people like me who come from Rome, it really seems to relive the atmosphere of this difficult beautiful city. Also all the stories are then in the end bittersweet and gave me that melancholy feeling that envelops the city at sunset over the ruins of the forum where the transience of human life appears in all its splendor.

Bellissima raccolta di racconti, dove a chi come me viene da Roma, sembra davvero di rivivere le atmosfere di questa difficile cittá bellissima. Anche tutte le storie sono poi alla fine dolceamare e mi hanno dato quella sensazione malinconica che avvolge la cittá al tramonto sulle rovine del foro in cui la transitorietà della vita umana appare in tutto il suo splendore.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

An interesting collection of stories centring around Rome from Jhumpa Lahiri, an author whose name I know well but have never read anything she's written before.

There is a mix of stories but all have the common themes of Rome, family, belonging and immigrant status or that's the way it appeared to me at least. I can only assume that these are all (to some extent) fictional renditions of stories that Ms Lahiri has experienced at first hand or amongst friends/relations. They certainly read like true stories in part.

I thought the longer stories might be too samey but one of my favourites was The Steps, which gives differing accounts of various people who use the same long flight of steps every day. Other favourites were Well-Lit Room and The Deliverydescribing the experiences of an immigrants subjected to increasing degrees of violence, The Boundary which tells the story of a rental property and its caretakers, The Reentry and Notes which describe the casual racism of children.

In fact I liked almost all the stories although I wasn't as carried away as I felt I should have been given Ms Lahiri's almost mythic status as an author. Still I would recommend this volume of short stories and will look out for more by Jhumpa Lahiri.

Thanks to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for the advance review copy.

Reviewing for Mslexia's short story column - this review will be for issue 100 :)
Thank you for the early copy!

The juxtaposition of the guests with the hired help in a country retreat, the lingering impact of an encounter with a mysterious stranger, the discrimination faced by migrants seeking refuge…

These Roman Stories speak of racism, grief, loneliness, differing but shared experiences of this ancient city. I found myself truly invested in the characters, feeling their pain, devastated by their devastation. Each story beautifully captures a different aspect of what it is to be human in this world.

I’d never read this author before, so this is my first encounter where their writing but it certainly shan’t be my last.

"Roman Stories" by Jhumpa Lahiri takes readers on a captivating journey through Rome, or more accurately its people, exploring the lives and experiences of various characters from different walks of life. Lahiri, known for her evocative storytelling, once again proves her mastery by delving into the depths of history as it relates to space.

A key aspect of the book for me is the depth and authenticity of the characters that inhabit these stories. Lahiri skillfully crafts multidimensional individuals who grapple with personal dilemmas, cultural identity, and the universal desire for connection. Through her astute observations and sensitive portrayals, she delves into the their inner, capturing their hopes, fears, and struggles with empathy and grace.

Lahiri's prose, as always, is elegant and evocative. Her language carries a quiet intensity that enhances the emotional resonance of the narratives. She adeptly balances descriptive passages with insightful introspection, creating a rich tapestry of words that stimulates the imagination and leaves a lasting impact on the reader.
However, while the individual stories are engaging and thought-provoking, the collection as a whole lacks a cohesive thread. Each story stands on its own, exploring various aspects of life in Rome, but the absence of an overarching theme or connection between the tales can at times be jarring

"Roman Stories" is a testament to Lahiri's talent for weaving intricate narratives, and it is sure to transport readers to a distant place, allowing them to reflect on the enduring nature of human emotions and experiences. If you want a book that combines literary craftsmanship with heartfelt storytelling, 'Roman Stories' should undoubtedly be on your reading list.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC for an honest review.

Jumps Lahiri is a wonderful writer. Have loved so many of her works including the interpreter of maladies, the namesake and unaccustomed earth. Here is a collection of short stories or musings set in Italy. They are wistful, gentle and affecting.

Jhumpa Lahiri’s debut collection, Interpreter of Maladies, is one of my favourite books of all time, and one that changed my mind about short stories. So I was enormously keen to read Roman Stories which, in common with much of Lahiri’s recent writing, was written in Italian and then translated by the author into English.

The strongest stories for me were the ones dealing with the immigrant experience, which is represented across a variety of the stories in the collection including The Boundary and Well-Lit House. I also enjoyed the longer The Steps, which moves between perspective of people living near and moving around a flight of outside steps.

However, I struggled with the stylistic choice to not assign names to the characters - who are instead referred to either just as ‘the woman’, ‘the mother’, ‘the wife’, or, occasionally as in the story P’s Parties, by an initial. I found this distanced me from the characters and, by extension, from their experiences.

The writing is always beautiful and the translation from the Italian first-rate. Jhumpa Lahiri is a true master storyteller. But somehow this collection of short stories is too melancholic. Even the magnificent eternal city seems exhausted and worn-out as the setting connecting this series. I would have loved to rate this more highly, but that would have required a few more than the single uplifting story. Special thank you to Pan Macmillan & NetGalley for a no-obligation advance review copy.

There is real elegance and quiet beauty in the writing of these stories - gentle vignettes of life in Rome, but with some important underlying themes, particularly racism. The plot lines are deliberately vague, with not all the stories having convincing momentum or direction, but each can be savoured for the nuance of the writing and the calming effects on the reader. This is a book to be savoured when a break from the stress and tumult of life is needed!

I would not call these exactly short stories - they are vignettes, with hardly any plot, but events told usually with some distance, by someone who witnesses them - the teenage girl of the first story, watching a family on holiday in the countryside where she lives and work; the man who becomes fascinated with a woman he met at a party with shared acquaintances, the people who use the stairs by a nice flat to sit and talk, watched by the concierge...
They are interesting but a few ended up feeling too similar to each other, and a few were too "obvious" in their pursuit of themes of racism, isolation and feelings of not belonging. I think the message is very valid (and I know enough about Italy to see why it would be a big issue) but it lacked subtlety at times. They felt very studied and very curated, maybe because Jhumpa Lahiri wrote them in Italian before they were translated into English. They were beautiful but I found them more "rigid" than her previous works - I found that with "Whereabouts" (her last novel, although part of her Italian period), it didn't feel as zesty, fresh and audacious as her first works.

Reads like a collection of short stories, though it is not described as such - and like many short story collections, some are definitely stronger than others. As a big fan of some of Jhumpa Lahiri's other work I was really looking forward to reading Roman Stories, but found my experience reading came up somewhat short of my expectations. The luminous language I've come to expect from her was missing here. The stories share some common themes, particularly around the experience of outsiders in Rome, and though individually some were interesting they did not form a cohesive and compelling whole.

"Roman Stories" is a collection of a few good stories set in Italy. These stories feel like they were pulled out of the diaries and journals of different people. In some cases, they were like their personal account of themselves, which those who wrote them may not have wanted for everyone to read. The writing was too simple, particularly for a writer like Lahiri. It could also be that my expectations were very high and expected more depth and intensity.

Thank you to Net Galley and Pan Macmillan for an e arc of this title in return for an honest review.
Jhumpa Lahiri has written a loosely linked number of stories with the City of Rome at the heart of each
While Lahiri describes lyrically describes the city she obviously knows and loves, she also unflinchingly shows its less lovely side as she documents ways in which "immigrants" are slighted, ignored and abused by those who call Rome their home.
The stories have a sense of ; melancholy, of isolation, of opportunities not grasped,of love lost, and dreams out of reach.
The book had been expertly retains the flow of Lahiri's writing.
An immersive read, the stories, the characters and the memory of Summer Roman heat, remain in the heart and mind long after the book has been closed.

Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri is a quietly intimate and resonant collection of short stories, some of which are more engaging than others.