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Loading... Interpreter of Maladiesby Jhumpa Lahiri
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. ashishg | Jun 29, 2009 |   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!!!!! (  )blackdogbooks | Jun 28, 2009 | 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. (  )Rise | Jun 5, 2009 | 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. (  )mrstreme | May 19, 2009 | 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. ( )kambrogi | May 4, 2009 | 0.047 seconds to build listing
Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 039592720X, Paperback)Mr. Kapasi, the protagonist of Jhumpa Lahiri's title story, would certainly have his work cut out for him if he were forced to interpret the maladies of all the characters in this eloquent debut collection. Take, for example, Shoba and Shukumar, the young couple in "A Temporary Matter" whose marriage is crumbling in the wake of a stillborn child. Or Miranda in "Sexy," who is involved in a hopeless affair with a married man. But Mr. Kapasi has problems enough of his own; in addition to his regular job working as an interpreter for a doctor who does not speak his patients' language, he also drives tourists to local sites of interest. His fare on this particular day is Mr. and Mrs. Das--first-generation Americans of Indian descent--and their children. During the course of the afternoon, Mr. Kapasi becomes enamored of Mrs. Das and then becomes her unwilling confidant when she reads too much into his profession. "I told you because of your talents," she informs him after divulging a startling secret.I'm tired of feeling so terrible all the time. Eight years, Mr. Kapasi, I've been in pain eight years. I was hoping you could help me feel better; say the right thing. Suggest some kind of remedy.Of course, Mr. Kapasi has no cure for what ails Mrs. Das--or himself. Lahiri's subtle, bittersweet ending is characteristic of the collection as a whole. Some of these nine tales are set in India, others in the United States, and most concern characters of Indian heritage. Yet the situations Lahiri's people face, from unhappy marriages to civil war, transcend ethnicity. As the narrator of the last story, "The Third and Final Continent," comments: "There are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept." In that single line Jhumpa Lahiri sums up a universal experience, one that applies to all who have grown up, left home, fallen in or out of love, and, above all, experienced what it means to be a foreigner, even within one's own family. --Alix Wilber (retrieved from Amazon Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:53:44 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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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. (