Rating: 
Summary: A Strong Start
Review: The short stories in this book are good but not great, probably because they are not long enough for the reader to really get involved with the characters. Writing a great short story is probably more difficult than writing a great novel. What is more noteworthy about this book is Jhumpa Lahiri's total mastery of her craft and I will definitely read her next book.The stories are all about Indians living in India or in the US. Lahiri gives us a view into lives which are in many ways unlike our own because of cultural or economic differences. A couple of the stories are about Indians studying or emigrating to the US and they give a credible feel for the life of an immigrant.
Rating:
Summary: Great stories about relationships
Review: Jhumpa Lahiri has compiled a compelling collection of short stories that focus on a variety of relationships. These relationships involve happiness, loss, betrayal, confusion and wonderment. We learn how a spouse, child, family member, neighbor or entire community can impact a person or be impacted by a single person. Each story features characters of the Indian culture in their homeland or after having relocated to the US. While Lahiri pays close attention the cultural aspects of Indian life, the issues faced by these characters are universal. My favorite stories included A Temporary Matter; When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine; the title story, Interpreter of Maladies; and the Third and Final Continent. Overall, an interesting, enjoyable read.
Rating: 
Summary: Simply Amazing!
Review: I loved this book-it is one of the best collection of short stories I have ever read! Her writing style and the language she uses to describe scenes, people, and emotions is wonderful, and seems so effortless. The only story that I didn't care for much was "Sexy"; the two main characters just didn't seem to come across as vividly to me as did the ones in the rest of the stories. I could care less whether the author won a Pulitzer for this or not; I don't buy books based on that kind of criteria. I look forward to reading more from this talented author!
Rating: 
Summary: Pathetic.
Review: Like another reviewer said, this represents the triumph of mediocrity -- not just that, but the triumph of the New Yorker school of oh-so-exquisite writing (cf. Cheever and Updike). This is garbage, pure and unadulterated. It's no accident that the most vivid and excisting authors today practice genre fiction -- espionage (Alan Furth) and noir (James Ellroy) and historical (the late lamented Patrick OBrian). This is twiddling, twaddling garbage. Shame on you if you buy this.
Rating: 
Summary: Interpreter of Monotony!
Review: I found this book a little on the dull side. Being grammatically well written did not make up for an undertone of blandness that echoed through the book's entirity. I did appreciate the sense of realism Jhumpa Lahiri brought to her writing, and for her first book, I think it is a masterpiece. But I sadly discovered that it was not one of those reading pleasures that would keep me up 'til all hours, wanting to finish just one more paragraph.
Rating:
Summary: The Triumph of Mediocrity
Review: I'm glad that a number of South Asian reviewers had the same opinion of this book as I did, and gave me the names of better SA authors to pursue. The New York publishing cartel, the editors of the New Yorker magazine, and the Pulitzer Prize committee together run the risk of turning readers away from ethnic fiction if they continue to elevate unremarkable books like this above all others. Where are the gatekeepers? There is absolutely nothing here that I haven't read before, in the eighties, by other trendy young women writers. They put an Indian stamp on it, and it's supposed to be profound? These stories had no ability to evoke character or emotion, the prose style was unremarkable, the structure color by numbers. There was not a surprise or a genuine moment anywhere. A real effort to pander to trendy tastes, though, with unconvincing depictions of adulterous affairs, and so forth. Nothing new here, except for the color of the characters' skins. As I read these stories, I felt they were written by an author who was simply copying other fiction writers' work and depictions of emotions and situations, rather than had actually experienced anything herself. The view is surface, facile, and immature. You get the impression that the author is a very protected and cossetted young woman, with little experience of life, and no genuine imagination to draw form either. I was left thinking she had been promoted and snatched up because she fit this year's ethnic category. Let's see, we've done the late blooming Irish hard luck story, a heavy historical novel or two, I think we've overdone the Holocost and slavery a little too much, don't you? How about something no one can object to -- a woman, an immigrant story, no fresh ideas or anything anyone can possibly take offense to. Well, as a lover or good literature, I've taken offense at this injustice. I feel like the publishing industry is shoving mediocrity down our throats. I know there's passionate writing out there somewhere. But the industry has decided to play it safe by hailing generic fiction like this.
Rating: 
Summary: What's the big fuss about?
Review: I must say I am taken aback by all the attention this book has been getting. It is a very well written book, but to me its main flaw is precisely that: it is "well written." These short stories seem to come out of a creative writing program designed to get you published in magazines like the New Yorker. They are well-constructed but bland. Ms. Lahiri's voice is preppy and impersonal. I recommend the last story, though.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I have ever read
Review: I am usually more of a fan of novels than short stories, but this book was amazing. I was introduced to Ms. Lahiri's work in a creative writing class (we read "Sexy"). The story enthralled me because of its creative and unusual premise and the many specific details used. I was so impressed that I bought Interpreter of Maladies. Lahiri's writing is simple, beautiful and seems effortless. As a writer Lahiri's prose inspired me to write, and as a reader I did not want the stories to end. I treated each story as a jewel to be savored and waited to read them, not wanting to rush through them too quickly. I am waiting for Ms. Lahiri to write another book. I have been trying to convince my friends and family to read the book. They are skeptical because it is a work of short stories, but I am sure that once they read one story, they will be hooked.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: To be short and to the point, this is quite simply one of the best book I've ever read! I just want to grab people and tell them that they must read this book. As someone who has lived the immigrant experience in America, it is all the more special. I believe everyone can enjoy the amazing storytelling within these pages.
Rating:
Summary: Best Pulitzer selection since 1993's
Review: When I see that a book has 173 reviews I usually don't bother adding my views on it, since nobody is going to read 174 reviews. But this is such an exceptionally satisfying book that I have to say some things. I have read every Pulitzer prizewinning work of fiction, and some selections have been really great and some are terrible. I was overwhelmed by the 1993 selection, A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, and this selection is the greatest since that one, IMHO. I particularly liked that the stories each caught me up quickly--usually a deterrent to enjoying a whole book of short stories. My favorite in the book was the last one: A Third and Final Continent. It left me with a very satisfying feeling, knowing that the author had put the best story of the nine last, instead of first or instead of it being the title story. This appears to be the sixth book of short stories to win the Pulitzer for fiction. The first was Tales of the South Pacific--a selection which apparently caused the prize to be changed from Novel to Fiction. The others have been 1966: The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter; 1970: Collected Stories, by Jean Stafford; 1978: Elbow Room, by James Alan McPherson; 1979: The Stories of John Cheever; and 1993's, mentioned above. Interpreter of Maladies ranks with the best of these.
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