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Interpreter of Maladies
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Interpreter of Maladies
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Interpreter of Maladies
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Interpreter of Maladies

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this ebook

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE • PEN/HEMINGWAY AWARD WINNER. With a new foreword by Domenico Starnone, this stunning debut collection flawlessly charts the emotional journeys of characters seeking love beyond the barriers of nations and generations.

With accomplished precision and gentle eloquence, Jhumpa Lahiri traces the crosscurrents set in motion when immigrants, expatriates, and their children arrive, quite literally, at a cultural divide.

A blackout forces a young Indian American couple to make confessions that unravel their tattered domestic peace. An Indian American girl recognizes her cultural identity during a Halloween celebration while the Pakastani civil war rages on television in the background. A latchkey kid with a single working mother finds affinity with a woman from Calcutta. In the title story, an interpreter guides an American family through the India of their ancestors and hears an astonishing confession.

Imbued with the sensual details of Indian culture, these stories speak with passion and wisdom to everyone who has ever felt like a foreigner. Like the interpreter of the title story, Lahiri translates between the strict traditions of her ancestors and a baffling new world.

Editor's Note

Stories that linger...

Lahiri is a sensitive observer of the micro relationships that form between strangers in different situations: a tour, a dinner party, a tutoring session. These are stories that linger, that become a part of you.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherMariner Books
Release dateApr 30, 1994
ISBN9780547487069
Author

Jhumpa Lahiri

JHUMPA LAHIRI is the author of four works of fiction: Interpreter of Maladies, The Namesake, Unaccustomed Earth, and The Lowland; and a work of nonfiction, In Other Words. She has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize; the PEN/Hemingway Award; the PEN/Malamud Award; the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award; the Premio Gregor von Rezzori; the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature; a 2014 National Humanities Medal, awarded by President Barack Obama; and the Premio Internazionale Viareggio-Versilia, for In altre parole.

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Rating: 4.114277054537008 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Some of the stories are poignant...maybe a bit too much so, but in the end the stories work together to form a whole...no news, as it's won a Pulitzer....
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Larhiri's short stories take place either in the Boston area or in India. Most of them are melancholy. I liked them, but they didn't blow me away, just made me a little sad. The narrator seemed unfamiliar with the pronunciation of place names like Filene's and Mapparium. No problem with Nickelodeon though (I'd almost forgotten about that place!)
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    These short stories are mainly set in America, but sometimes in India, and feature mostly Indian-Americans, but sometimes Indians. I found them moving and gentle, although fairly sad. They made me want to try mustard oil!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Excellent collection of stories characterizing the lives of Indian and Indian-Americans who try to make their world work despite living at times in conflicting worlds. I was particularly fond of Mr. Pirzada, the charming misfit who touched a young girl's heart by reaching out to her in a simple, sweet, old-fashioned fashion. Reminded me of my Danish great-uncle who I loved dearly as much because of his quirks as anything else.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Jhumpa Lahiri's 2000 Pulitzer Prize winning short story collection introduces us to characters that slowly work their way into your soul and remain there long after their story is finished. She has crafted a gem of a collection, where all the stories have a common theme:loss. "A Temporary Matter" tells of a young couple whose marriage is coming apart after their first child is still-born. When the electric company notifies them that their power will be interrupted every night for one hour for repairs, the young husband sees this as an opportunity for them to recover what they have lost and save their marriage. He fails to recognize his wife's subtle hints that it is over."When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine" is a story told by a ten year old girl whose family invited a visiting professor to dine with them every night. His wife and seven daughters remained in Dacca at a time when it was being shelled, torched and invaded during a civil war in Pakistan. He went months without knowing if they were dead or alive as the postal system had collapsed.In the title story, an Indian tour guide is showing an American family some of the sights and becomes very taken with the wife and fantasizes about her feelings for him. He is startled and chagrined when she shares a family secret with him that she has never shared with anyone else.In "A Real Durwan," Boori Ma is the sweeper of the stairwell, who shares "the details of her plight and losses suffered since her deportation to Calcutta after Partition," when she was separated from her husband and four daughters. They tolerate her exaggerated litanies but, in the end, she loses her job, home and the rest of her savings when the residents blame her for circunstances beyond her control."Sexy" explains how a young woman is involved with a married man until a young boy she is babysitting helps her to see that she has no future to look forward to."Mrs. Sen's" tells the story of an immigrant woman so devastated by her separation from her family in India, and so determined to continue some of her Indian traditions, that she jeopardizes her life and that of the child she is babysitting."This Blessed House" introduces us to a young Indian Hindu couple living in Connecticut and settling into their new home. The husband is mortified when his wife puts on display Christian artifacts that they've discovered hidden throughout the house. He is surprised when their housewarming guests find her charming and her collection not mortifying at all.In "The Treatment of Bibi Haldar," poor Bibi suffers from seizures and the absence of a man in her life. She is desperate to marry and have a child but no man in the town has any interest, after all she's almost 30! In "The Third and Final Continent," a young man leaves India to study and get a degree in London. He returns to marry the woman selected by his parents and then comes to Boston to start his first job. It is there that he meets 103 year old Mrs. Croft, who rents him a room and has a profound effect on him.Lahiri's characters jump off the page and the empathy you feel for them is palpable. You know you are in the hands of a master: elegant language that flows beautifully and poetically and story lines that rivet you to the page. This is a fast read but one that will stay with me for a long time. Highly recommended.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Very satisfying.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Some of the stories are poignant...maybe a bit too much so, but in the end the stories work together to form a whole...no news, as it's won a Pulitzer....
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I had this book sitting on my shelf for a year before I read it, and I regret it. To date, the best book I've read in the summer of 2012. Definitely a break from the normal YA reading I do, but a much-invited one. Short story books I am never excited to read, but I don't know why because I have hardly ever been burned by them. Lahiri's book only encourages me to try it more often. Her stories vividly describe in India, Pakistan, Europe, the US. Within each story the plot gradually unfolds, while never being scintillatingly climactic; the entire story just holds your attention all the way through until you reach a very satisfying ending but are still left to answer some incredibly important questions.And, because it can always be a killer for me: the dialogue was incredible and authentic.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was a great collection of short stories. There is a focus on fitting into whatever life you choose as an immigrant, part of a marriage, a woman, etc that is relateable to anyone and everyone. The descriptions of things such as Indian food and scenery was wonderful. I would definitely recommend this to anyone.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I rarely read short stories, but this collection of eloquent stories was a real pleasure to read. These stories of melancholy, loss, dislocation and quiet pleasures are simply beautiful and will stick with me.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Another great book of short stories. I have heard that shorts are harder to write than novels and the author has surely perfected the craft of story writing. I can't wait to read one of her novels.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A quick read, easily completed in a weekend. Although I'm not a big fan of short stories, I did enjoy this collection. The stories are all a little sad (as short stories seem destined to be), but no so much that they depressed me. The emotions were bittersweet, not melodramatic. Each story featured Indian food in some capacity, as a symbol of emotional bonding, and I was perpetually craving curry, samosas, and various other dishes described! A nice look at Indian culture from various perspectives.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Incredible compassion and sharp description in these short stories. Fully deserved a Pulitzer!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I always say I don't really like short stories but then I state the exceptions to that rule: science fiction short stories are usually great, writers like Alice Munro and Mavis Gallant can capture in a short story what it takes other writers 250 pages to say, spoken short stories can really grab me and so on. I guess what it really comes down to is that short stories that are written by great writers can be as wonderful as long fiction. And Jhumpa Lahiri is a great writer. I kept marvelling at the little things about a person that she noticed and described. I could picture many of the characters in the stories because she conveyed a word picture of them. Lahiri presently has a book, The Lowland, on the Booker long list and after reading this book and reading an interview with Lahiri about The Lowland I think I'm going to have to read it.I think the story I am most drawn to in this book is Mrs Sen's. It's about a young American boy, Eliot, who is babysat every afternoon after school by an Indian lady, Mrs. Sen. In India Mrs. Sen had household help and a chauffeur but now her husband is teaching in the US. Mrs. Sen misses her family and the ability to get out of the house. She is learning how to drive but until she gets her license she must wait for her husband to have time to take her places or pick things up. She particularly misses the fish she used to have in India and that is why she patronizes a fish shop far away by the shore. One time when her husband can't take her to get the fish she and Eliot go by bus. But coming home on the bus with the fish in a bag another passenger complains about the smell. So the next time that the fish shop calls to say they have some very fresh halibut Mrs. Sen decides to drive and take Eliot with her. She has an accident which doesn't cause much damage and no one is injured but Eliot is no longer allowed to stay with Mrs. Sen. I really felt sorry for Mrs. Sen and could imagine her cultural disconnect in a strange new place. Her husband seems not to realize how hard it is for his wife. In fact, they don't seem to have a very loving marriage but, as a good Indian wife, Mrs. Sen must stay with him. How tragic is that?
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A thoroughly enjoyable mix
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Interpreter of Maladies is a series of short stories (by the author of the Namesake—which I loved) about characters, both Indian and European/American—some immigrants-some in India, navigating between the Indian traditions they've inherited and baffling new worlds they must contend with. One of my favorite stories, "A Temporary Matter," Shoba and Shukumar take advantage of a blackout in their neighborhood and use the time to confront the problems in their marriage and grieve for their stillborn child—which turns out to be heartbreaking for reasons you do not expect. Another favorite, "This Blessed House", is a story about the bewilderment of a man who has entered into an arranged marriage and starts discovering the woman who is his wife. It is only through the eyes of friends at a party that he sees his wife as she is and love begins to grow." The Third and Final Continent" follows a young man's journey from India to London and finally to the United States, where he rents a room from a 103-year-old woman while waiting for his new bride to arrive—which turns out to be surprisingly sweet and comforting. All of these stories are incredibly beautiful, poignant, and bittersweet. 4 ½ out of 5 stars.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Lahiri's collection of short stories demonstrates that she is one fine writer. The stories - mainly set in the Cambridge/Boston area or in India - cover some common themes such as the meetings of peoples of different cultures, strained relationships, and children with a growing understanding of the adult world. The last theme is best demonstrated in "When Mr. Pirzada Came To Dine" told through a child's perspective of her parents' Pakistani dinner guest and how that leads to her coming to terms with sociopolitical realities. The first story "A Temporary Matter" ends on an act of cruelty that is a real kick in the gut. Indeed, many of these stories demonstrate the downside of human nature and so the reader shouldn't read this for a pick-me-up. Yet there is unexpected joy as well as in the last story "The Third and Final Continent" about an Indian immigrant and the elderly woman who rents him a room which has a surprisingly upbeat ending.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The stories "When Mr. Prizada Came to Dine," "A Real Durwan," "The Treatment of Bibi Haldar," and "The Third and Final Continent" would be most useful in a high school ELA classroom. "When Mr. Prizada Came to Dine" and "The Third and Final Continent" both explore the immigrant experience of Indians in America, while "A Real Durwan" and "The Treatment of Bibi Halder" are set in India and would therefore be useful in exploring Indian culture and societal norms, particularly from the female point of view. "When Mr. Prizada Came to Dine" would fit nicely into a historical perspective approach as it lends itself to exploration of India-Pakistan relations.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Short stories. Great writing but many of the stories left me hanging--issues not resolved, no real conclusion.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I don't like short stories; this book is the exception: each story has an arc that fulfills my need to create an intimate relationship with both character and narrative. A deeply satisfying collection.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a finely written collection of stories, all of which have at least some characters in or from India. With one exception, all of the "Indian" characters interact with others outside their cultural background, and even the one exception to that involves an individual Indian "outsider" within her own Indian society. The author has a clean, personable style that keeps one's interest, without offering much of real excitement. The stories deal with "normal" life with various mixed cultural differences, which, in the end, emphasize more individual human differences, somewhat camouflaged by and mistaken for the cultural ones.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Lahiri's stories of cultural encounters between Indians and Americans feel a little heavy-handed and obvious to me. The prose is elegant, but I don't feel like she's saying anything surprising. She's much stronger in the stories that deal with charcters who share a common cultural background -- her stories of ordinary relationships feel much subtler.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The 1st story in this collection was well done but left me rather cold, the second was so good that I resolved to finish and am very glad I did - for the author in the final few tales shows a very amusing comic vein along with all the other positives one looks for in short stories. Nevertheless Lahiri turns out to be a subtle but stern moralist in addition being a dedicated and skillful literary artist. Henry James would have been very proud to witness her Asian variations on his International theme.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I wanted every short story to be its own novel - loved this book!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Beautifully written short stories replete with interesting characters and settings.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Although every short story deals with Indians either returning to their own country, or living outside it, their impact is universal. Anyone who has ever been the outsider or foreigner knows the pain, stress or struggle to fit in, while also holding firm to one's own identity. Lahiri articulates this common thread so beautifully in each story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The author writes in an unusual but extremely pleasurable style. All the stories within this book give, in a very sensitive way a closer look at the hopes, sorrows, and love in the lives of immigrants from India in the USA as well as some Indians living in India. It is a treat to read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In each of these short stories, Lahiri's beautiful writing describes the discontent and alienation her characters individually experience as American immigrants from India. From a young married couple who find themselves drifting apart, to an Indian woman who confides in the young, American boy she babysits, the reader gets a fascinating look at the complicated life of these soulful characters.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A collection of short stories mostly relating to domestic or relationship issues. The stories are unexpectedly piercing and sometimes brutal (but always in an elegant way). Lahiri writes beautifully. Recommended.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    An enjoyable and varied book of short stories, giving an insight into the life of educated and working class Indians both in India and America.The majority of the stories engaged me and some moved me, although I recall that they are all written in the third person, with quite a distancing affect. The collection may be about a totally different situation in life to your own, but engages the emotions to interest you in the more universal, human condition.I would agree with an earlier reviewer's comments that the outstanding story is the last, "The Third and Final Continent", which paints a life with such perfectly chosen language. It is beautiful.