Please stop inflicting your own hangups on America's children. We have enough problems already. After years of reading American fiction, I've read in Lahiri's works about experiences that echo my own. I am very proud of her accomplishment and her recognition. So I just don't get it.
Fiction writing is very competitive, and in America, it's a clubby game.
This year, Jhumpa Lahiri got into the club, but what really matters is her writing from here on out. The accolades are just a pit stop along the way. Mayor seems to be trying to cash in on the fact that she was a former classmate of Lahiri, because Lahiri has attained something that has thus far eluded Mayor. By the way, the literary landscape of North America will change a lot over the next generation. Thank you for printing this honest account of a writer's struggle to maintain a strong identity while diving into the selflessness of motherhood.