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Summary: Real Life Stories
Review: Interpreter of Maladies is a poignant collection of short stories. Written in a straightforward yet evocative prose, most of the stories are of bittersweet loss -- yet loss that is not catastrophic, but is instead almost nostalgic. All the stories interweave losses or troubles that all of us either face or can readily identify with, with a future that is happy -- happy in the normal, everyday sense that people are happy. (There are some exceptions to this.)And Lahiri does a excellent job of telling these stories of normal everyday people, with normal problems or experiences, with an introspection that is rare this side of William Styron or Philip Roth. Most of the characters are of Indian origin and the themes are colored by Indian culture -- however Americans, even those with little knowledge of this culture, will easily identify with each story. Instead of giving summaries of each story let me say that this book is a fairly short and very well written so it is a "quick read" and well worth it.
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Summary: MALADIES IS JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED
Review: Jhumpa Lahiri's INTERPRETER OF MALADIES, a collection of nine short stories, each averaging approximately 22 pages, is engaging and often gripping. The characters are astonishingly well developed and the plots are crafted with amazing precision. Many of these stories have haunted me long after reading them. While each short story is unrelated to the others, all feature either Indian characters or Americans of Indian descent, and most are set either in India or in the Boston area. The reader unfamiliar with Indian customs and traditions (as I am) need not fear -- Ms. Lahiri skillfully integrates any required cultural information into the text so that any reader will understand these stories. In fact, I learned a great deal about Indian culture just by reading this book. Many of the stories also deal with the conflict that American children feel because their cultural heritage is so different from that of their Indian-born parents. The author also focuses on the struggles that Indian immigrants face here in the United States. In both these cases, Lahiri seems to suggest that there is a frustrating and perhaps ultimately irreconcilable discord that her characters face as they attempt to bridge two very different cultures. I recommend this book without reservation, and will be teaching several of the stories to my high school juniors this autumn.
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Summary: Pen of realiy and paper of reflection.
Review: Jhumpa Lahiri, writes a book with a pen of reality and paper of reflection. Giving the book a easy to read and pleasant feeling. Also it has a kind of a tang of the oddity of bengali culture. The book is cross cultural and may be difficult if one is not familiar with bengali lifestyles. Only thing is that in the story Interpreter of Maladies, no self respecting Rutgers University proffessor would live in New Brunswick (look where I am from) . Most of the stories have a twist to the ending, but definitely a good feeling of reality. Great book, great presents for first girlfriends and best buddies.
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Summary: it's all in the details
Review: Lahiri's meticulous attention to what's in the freezer, or the closet, or the purse take you right into these stories. Fabulous window into Indian and Idian American experience.
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Summary: Our New Book Group Favorite
Review: What a terrific group of stories. Our bookgroup put this among our all-time faves; Lahiri has managed to write a group of stories that seem to say so much with the use of a few words. Each piece examines a slice of American/Indian life that enchants the reader with a combination of emotional intensity, vivid characterazations and elements of surprise along with a poetic use of language. She combines her worlds flawlessly. A must read.
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Summary: What a read!!!
Review: I really recommend this collection of short stories. It captures the expat community's deliemma and tribulations very well and the prose is smooth. Though all the stories have a melancholy tinge which could be pointed as one downside of the book, But still in all a great collection and a must read!
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Summary: 5 star winner
Review: This will be a book you won't quickly forget. Indian culture meets American culture. The stories are told brilliantly. This book will haunt you in it's vividness and proud classiness.
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Summary: Delightful...
Review: More often than not, I find Indian SHORT story authors to be somewhat pretentious and I thought the same of Ms. Lahiri after reading the first story in this collection. It turns out, however, that Ms. Lahiri is a very talented, insightful young writer. This is not just a collection of stories about Indians and Indians in the west, rather it is about the human spirit. To sum it up in one word: delightful.
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Summary: Memorable
Review: It's one of those books that when you first finish reading the story, you think "Is that it?", but then you slowly realize how great it was done, and how real the characters became in such a short time.
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Summary: tribeca review
Review: Highly recommend for anyone to read this book. Its been a little over a year since I was given Interpreter of Maladies as a gift, and it's still my favorite thing to read... probably will be for life. I keep buying more copies of the book to give away to friends and family which is a first for me. The stories are amazingly written and completely pull you into the brief moment you are allowed to share in the character's lives. As an American of Indian origin, it was a kick to read about characters who happen to be Indian, but the book goes so far beyond that as evidenced by it's winning the Pulitzer. I've heard Jhumpa Lahiri being referred to as a writer's writer which is probably the biggest compliment, but to me she is a reader's writer because her mastery of word passages keeps bringing me back to re-reading this book instead of starting one of the many un-read ones I have on my bookshelf. There are no amateur excesses in her writing... just simple, staightforeward story-telling. Can't wait until her next work is published.
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