No More Than a Potato

"Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil. My children … shall strike their roots in unaccustomed earth."

The passage above was quoted from Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter in a story about Jhumpa Lahiri 's new collection of stories, Unaccustomed Earth.

That passage spoke to me, given my family's repeated "transplantations." While it was always difficult to leave old friends and familiar settings, we did get to experience some amazing new opportunities. The Silver Lining, right?

Some day, I'd like to check out Lahiri's new work.