Brooklyn, New York

Much of the collection takes place in and around New York City, with a particular focus on the borough of Brooklyn. The centering of Brooklyn is significant because New York City has an extremely diverse population that allows Chakrabarti to explore American, Jewish, and Indian heritage across his collection of stories. Frequently, the landscape and architecture of New York comes to bear on individual lives, such as when Mendel and Leah are subjected to neighborhood scrutiny amidst the decline of their marriage or when Amit's navigation of the city leads to tension between him and Eliza. The contrast between the vision of New York that the collection's immigrant characters bring with them and the harsh realities of life in the ostensibly "prosperous" America also come to bear on the lives of many in the collection, allowing Chakrabarti to critique the notion that America is a "melting...