I really enjoyed the stories in this book. Although some of them were sad the final story left me with a great deal of hope for the future and for humanity as a whole. After some rather depressing books for school this one felt uplifting. ( )

Is a novel by a Pulitzer winner author of Indian origin by name Jhumpa Lahiri, did i get that spelling right?.. hope so.
I have been wanting to read her book for quite some years and managed to do so over the weekend and I must say I'm impressed.
Hers is unlike any of the other books I have read for they are nine short stories with not much of a story in them and yet I like them.
There are nine stories that place its protagonists either in India or in Boston, US. The stories are about people, their characters their pains and pleasures, their mould, their outlook, their deepest desires, their flawed outlook and their rather delicate and intricate relations with one other .

The characters are very realistic and layered with such unique features you almost tend to believe that they are real life persons living their life quietly someplace. So much so that you start believing that this book is just a compilation of lifted portions from real life diaries of many individuals.

The book swings from moody, dark and up lifting lives of different characters. Each reader has their favourite and mine are the last two stories. The one of Bibi Haldar and the one of the third continent.
I will not delve into the plots or the lack of it, but suffice it to say that dexterity with which Jhumpa spins her layers around the characters gives them life in manner I have never seen before. You must be Indian and should have a little bit of been away experience to appreciate her work of art. Yes this is a work of art that needs to appreciated and not a cup of ice cream that can be enjoyed with gay abandon. It requires careful look and study to appreciate the texture of this book.
While I love this book, I cannot read such moody books all the time. Its good to sanitize one's self with such lovely prose every now and then.

A thoroughly enjoyable mix ( )

It is an astonishing to discover that this collection of nine short stories is Jhumpa Lahiri's first published work. It is no suprise to find that it won her a Pulitzer Prize in the year 2000. This is an almost perfect collection - the epitome of what short stories should be. Each is caringly crafted, exquisite in design, gentle yet sturdy and perfectly balanced and calm. A wonderful book. My favourite was serendipitously the last - The Third and Final Continent. Blissful and contented reading. ( )

Lahiri is a wonderful author--she seems to look into the souls of her characters, and when doing so looks into the reader's soul as well.

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. ( )

A quietly lovely read. Characters are wonderful, writing is gorgeous. I can't say enough good things about this collection ( )

This is an excellent collection of short stories, focused on Indians/Bengalis both at home and abroad. Lahiri writes beautifully, and her descriptions of life's minutiae are often very moving. ( )

Book is collection of 9 short stories, each rich in narrative, detail and emotional depth. Writer has knack for elaborating even minuscules of event and observation and thus she creates a vivid pictures in our mind as we read. Narrative is filled with interesting diversions which add meaning to saga. Her ability to embellish tiniest details of everyday life makes one go wow with wonder or nostalgia. Emotional depth of characters connects directly to the heart of the reader and had me shedding tears in few stories.

My most favourite stories of the lot are: 'When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine' and 'The Third and Final Continent'. 'A Read Durwan' was least interesting and predictable. 'A Temporary Matter' and 'Mrs. Sen's' left me puzzled at the end. Others were satisfactory. ( )

Sadness drips from from the stories in Jumpa Lahiri's collection, [Interpreter of Maladies]. The melancholy in the people of the stories is vicous, sticking in your mind long after laying the book down. Much of the grief and malaise flows from secrets held close in the heart, reluctantly shared. When they are given voice, it is with the hope of finding a respite or a refuge, as if in naming a pain aloud will dampen its sting. Lahiri, though, does not offer such a simple resolution, for in most cases the telling of a secret seems only to spread the pain or to isolate a growing divide. These divides amongst Lahiri's characters originate in differences in race, religion, culture, and personality and are not easily bridged, not even in sharing their pain. The stories are not devoid of hope, it's just that the hope the Lahiri offers flows from within.

Lahiri is a beautiful writer, able to translate an enormous amount of emotion quickly and concisely, making her short stories feel longer than they read. Perhaps the only reason I didn't rate this collection a full five bones was because I wanted to spend more time in the worlds she created with each successive story.

4 1/2 bones!!!!! ( )

A simple writing style. The conventional shock of recognition. As if these stories are deserved, not earned. The stories are neat, a little too neat maybe. The symbols and metaphors are chaste, a little too chaste. The stories are well-written, blameless and a little too polished. "Written" as such, they lacked the haphazard beauty of imperfection. The art of living that does not strive for peace of mind, but for a calmness born of awkward harmonies. There is a sense of being propelled, goaded, into submission. The stories leave one gasping for hope, even when, in a story, it is hope itself that was lost. My favorite story in this collection is the last one ("The Third and Final Continent"), which sums up everything into wholeness and brings into perspective the malaise and maladies interpreted for the reader. I also liked "This Blessed House" which has an element of improvisation to it. ( )

What can I say that hasn’t already been said about Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri? I feel like the last person in the book world who hasn’t read it – and I am not sure what I was waiting for. Interpreter of Maladies was beautiful, poignant and thought-provoking, full of stories and characters that I will remember for a long time.

This Pulitzer winner was a collection of short stories – all centered around “maladies” that affect humans, such as loneliness, homesickness and regret. Each story touches on one malady, brilliantly represented by characters of Indian origin (either living in India or the U.S.). The stories brought the reader through a full range of emotions – sometimes happiness, other times grief. This was no small feat, considering you get to know the characters in only a few pages. That’s a testament to the power of Lahiri’s writing. Each short story evoked an emotional and very human response.

Another reviewer commented that she wished each short story was a full novel. I couldn’t agree more. Interpreter of Maladies packed richness in every punch. I am not an avid reader of short stories – mostly because I want more after finishing the story – but I learned with this book that wanting more is a good thing. Without a doubt, Interpreter of Maladies left me wanting to read more by this talented young writer. ( )

I am only one of many to praise this 2000 Pulitzer Prize winner. These short stories about Indians – either in India or the US – is mature in both form and content, although Lahiri was quite young when she wrote them. Each story is unique and fascinating: the sweeper who has lost everything and then loses a little more, the young girl who never forgets a special family visitor, the abandoned girl who has nothing and yet survives, the tour guide with a short-lived fantasy, the young couple who slowly give each other up. The stories are thoughtful and yet simple, told in direct language that nonetheless misses nothing in detail or feeling. ( )

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. ( )

In Lahiri’s ordinariness is extraordinary truth. Her characters are not caricatures sprung from the Western imagination, nor are they examples of “This is how Indians and Indian Americans really are.” I don’t think Lahiri’s work is imbued with any politics; they are just wonderful, simple tales about regular people.

Read the rest of the review. ( )

This book deserves all the accolades. The stories are smart, poignant and short. Each one leaves you pondering the human condition. Many of them focus on the cross-cultural, and new immigrant aspects of our increasingly global society, the disconnects along with the underlying message that we all have the same hopes and dreams no matter our culture of origin. My favorite story was the last one, The Third and Final Continent, about a young Indian immigrant to Cambridge MA, where he bonds, absurdly, with an elderly woman who rents rooms to “Harvard and Tech” students only. She’s a tough old bird and you imagine she couldn’t possibly begin to understand or relate to this new immigrant, who is struggling with his own awkwardness in adapting to life in America. But the story proves otherwise. Jhumpa Lahiri is a natural talent at taking minimal words and conveying maximum emotions, in an understated, yet direct fashion. A beautiful book. MAT ( )

Collection of nine short stories, all of them excellent. Lahiri is gently sympathetic towards her characters, who include expatriate Indians settling into the US, first-generation Indian Americans and in two stories, Indians in India. ( )

http://amiralace.blogspot.com/2008/12... ( )

Short stories with endings that leave you wanting more. India/US interplay. Well done. Stories you could discuss. ( )

Beautiful inspiring book! ( )

Jhumpa Lahairi is an excellent author and this collection of short stories does not disappoint. ( )

In this series of short stories, the heroes are Asian and American, living in India, Pakistan, London and the U.S., dealing with emotions and life situations which are truly universal - the slow and unspoken death of a marriage, prejudice against the unknown, particularly when it comes in the form of an illness, the frustrations of a life of unfulfilled promises, and the multilateral deceptions of marital infidelity, blunted by the trappings of middle class materialism. Written with deft cultural insight and a nuanced depth, each tale contains poignant observations unhampered by nostalgia.

Interpreter of Maladies is collection of nine short stories which, at first glance, don't seem to bear much in common: some narrators are adults, reflecting back on their experiences as children; others are Indian, still more American, some a collective "we" of a village and others struggling students. Some carry the story through a first-person narrative, while others seem to speak from a careful distance away. But each story bears the commonality of the experience, to me, of loving someone from afar: whether because you are from different countries, speak different languages, are entirely different people or don't seem to share the same understandings of the world. Of all the stories, I found "Sexy" and "When Mr. Pirzada Came To Dine" to be the most moving. But that's like choosing a favorite child -- each story is special, unique and complex in its own way.

I'm normally not a short story reader -- I find shorts lack the depth and characterization I look for in fiction. But that's definitely not a problem here. From the first few sentences of each narrative, we're introduced to people who seem just as tangible as if they were standing in front of me by a taxi or in a living room or across a restaurant. I eagerly flipped through the pages, wondering who I would meet next.

And this is all done with incredibly moving, textured language, vivid characters and settings and serious human emotion. Interpreter of Maladies took me on an unforgettable ride -- and reminded me of everything I absolutely loved about The Namesake, my first time reading Lahiri. I don't know what took me so long to pick up this absolute gem of a book, but I'm so glad I did! I can't wait to get Unaccustomed Earth next. ( )

A gifted author, top 10 of the last 10 years. The lost art of the short story. ( )

This collection of stories is made excellent by the inclusion of "The Third and Final Continent," which is perfect—perfect on a word and sentence level, and as subtly layered and complete as any novel. Few writers ever accomplish so much in ten times as many words. The flaws of the other stories (which are solid, but not so memorable) are forgiven for this gift. As far as I'm concerned, Lahiri can write crap from here on out, and she'll still rate as one of my favorites. ( )