Tossup

In a story by this author, a woman returns from a movie to find her brother passed out drunk beside her son taking a bath. A photojournalist (10[1])dies in a tsunami in this author’s story “Going Ashore,” which appears in a collection by this author titled for a phrase from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Custom-House.” A 103-year-old woman created by this author breaks her hip after falling off a bench and exclaims “She’s a perfect lady!” upon meeting a former tenant’s wife. In that story by this author, the protagonist is forced to praise America’s landing (10[1])on the moon (10[1])as (10[1])“Splendid.” (10[1])This author of Unaccustomed Earth wrote a story in which Rohin defines the title word as “loving someone you don’t know.” For 10 points, name this author who included “Sexy” in her (10[1])collection (10[1])Interpreter of Maladies. (10[1])■END■

ANSWER: Jhumpa Lahiri [or Nilanjana Sudeshna Lahiri] (The story in the first sentence is “Only Goodness.” The story in the third and fourth sentences is “The Third and Final Continent.”)
<Arizona State, American Literature>
= Average correct buzz position

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