Interpreter of Maladies

Wuthering Bites Book Club Review at a Glance

What We Said

Interpreter of Maladies was a big hit with our bookclub. It inspired accolades like "The best collection of short stories I've ever read." Lahiri treats the characters in her stories with a non-sentimental, detached kindness that makes for a satisfying read, indeed. These stories are gracefully written and wonderful to ponder. I highly recommend this book for personal reading pleasure or as your next book club book.
—Steph

Edward, 11/5/2004    5 out of 10
Only one of these stories works as a story - that has a narrative track. The rest are merely fragments - some have an interesting core, some don't - but none of them start anywhere or go anywhere else. It's a pity, because she can clearly write, but this is writing by numbers that have been supplied by Creative Writing classes.
Inspired food accompaniment:   grass, and I don't mean marijuana
Other suggested books/authors:    Rohinton Mistry. This is how it should be done!

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Born in London, Lahiri grew up in Rhode Island and lives in New York City. She is a graduate of Barnard College and Boston University, where she received an M.A. in English, an M.A. in Creative Writing, and an M.A. in Comparative Literature and the Arts, and a Ph.D. in Renaissance Studies. She has taught creative writing in Boston University and the Rhode Isdland School of Design. She currently lives in New York City.

• Interpreter of Maladies
• The Namesake

From the Publisher

Since the release of Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri has won almost every award bestowed on a first book of fiction. The nine stories in this stunning debut collection unerringly chart the emotional journeys of characters seeking love beyond the barriers of nations and generations. With accomplished precision and gentle eloquence, 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 Pakistani civil war rages on television in the background. A latchkey kid with a single working mother finds affinity with a woman from Calcutta who, among other things, is struggling to learn to drive. 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. Interpreter of Maladies introduces "a wonderful new voice in American fiction. Jhumpa Lahiri is a sensitive chronicler of the immigrant experience. Interpreter of Maladies is a wise and sophisticated collection" (Bharati Mukherjee).

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