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Summary: Review of Interpreter of Maladies
Review: It is somewhat ironic that this book is called "Interpreter of Maladies". An interpreter of maladies is someone who can say what someone else is feeling. In these stories, each character is struggling to fit into new ways of life and dealing with obstacles. For example, in the chapter, "When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine," Mr. Prizada comes from Pakistan to America and has to adjust to a new life in a short time. His family lives in Dacca, and he finds out that a war has broken out in the city where his family lives. "On the screen I saw tanks rolling through dusty streets, and fallen buildings, and forests of unfamiliar trees in which East Pakistan refugees had fled, seeking safety over the Indian border." Mr. Pirazda is trying to better himself so his family can join him in America, but he fears that his family may perish while he is away. Other stories emphasize the pressure American society puts on foreigners. "There is no need to cover your head," I said, "I don't mind. It doesn't matter here." (From "The Thierd Continent") Wrapping her head symbolizes bridal modesty to the woman from India. This woman is still fixed to her customs and ways of life, which mean nothing in America. Anotehr point that Jhumpa Lahiri brings to the surface is that many societies exclude people who have diseases. If society knows that someone is ill, they do not want to get near that perosn. In "The Treatment of Bibi Halder," Bibi was an ill woman that society never wanted to get to know or even near. She would have seizures and was not familiar with the "real world." To try to make her better, Bibi's friends put an ad in the paper stating that a woman needed a husband. Since many in that town knew of Bibi's condition no man wanted her as neither a wife nor a friend. Some say that if she were to be married that she would be cured of her illnmess. Thoughts formed in their heads thinking that men could cure all. Others conclude that she is not fit to marry and does not know how to do things that a proper wife can do to please her husband. She would try to help others but would push them further away. She often gave her help or tried to. "She was a bane for business, he told her, a liability and a loss." "Must I also be blamed for infecting another?" (From "The Treatment of Bibi Haldar") I have a cousin who drove people away. He has an illness that can be fatal, but a miracle overcame his body and now he is in remission. His brother did not want his kids around him, in fear that the children will catch the illness. His illness was not even contagious. My cousin's situation was significant to Bibi's because society often shoves them away not wanting anything to do with them. Though they both were cured or at least somewhat, Bibi has her family and my cousin does not. Society is good at judging people by the way they look or act and Jhumpa Lahiri reveals these evil acts through her gentle and compassionate characters for whom you can not help but give sympathy to those who have a tough struggle in real life. Jhumpa Lahiri shows that society can be cruel but yet understanding in ways. She gives her characters strength and strong morals. Though her characters may fall, at the end, they always seem to get up and accept the way things are and try to adjust. Even though there is a struggle with both cultures the story comes to an end where both cultures are accepted and create the character even more. She brings out the way our world works and gives us a new perspective to see it. New comers to America, no matter what culture they are from or no matter what country, they should read this book. Though you live one way of life, it can always be intertwined with another. It is actually an educational experience to read this book, to learn that so many people have different struggles in everyday life with different situations. I thought I was the only one that had problems everyday in my life. Lahiri brings out marriage in some of her stories. With being married, I was able to get a better outlook at marriage and not care about the little things that can end up in a quarrel. In "A Temporary Matter," the husband and wife were no longer communicating. They both had their own separate lives, one is working while the other is working on the final thesis for college. Though they eventually started communicating it was too late. After I read this, I realized that my husband and I were heading toward isolation from each other. Communication is the key to any relationship and that is what I learned from Lahiri's book. Since marriage is something so new to me, I am trying to get accustomed to being around a new culture and a way of life. I have faced struggles and harships as some of the characters. I have been in troubled relationships as some of these characters have been in, and I have also seen my cousin who is ill being pushed away continuously by society, friends, and family. This book is a must have. It is a very enjoyable book, which will be enjoyed by many who read it. I recommend this book to all who have had struggles somewhere down the line and know that no matter what the outcome will be, it will be for the best all problems are workable and they all come to a solution. Lahiri gives a clear picture to all who have come to face these struggles and obstacles in their life. It is about time, that someone finally makes a book that others can relate to and pass it on to someone else that will enjoy it. Lahiri shows strengtt and poise in all of her short stories. I guarantee that each story is a page-turner! People from adolescent to adulthood will all enjoy.
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Summary: an exquisite collection of short stories
Review: I gave this book as a gift to a friend of mine from India who has been in the U.S. a couple of years, and he said he truly appreciated it. It is an excellent collection of very memorable short stories. I personally have read this book over a year ago and I still remember each story in vivid detail. A great gift to anyone with ties to India, and great reading for anyone else.
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Summary: Defining disorder!!!
Review: Mr. Kapasi defines disorder as his full time job!!! What happened to Bibi Haldar and Boori Ma?... or reading this novel might make some Indians remember those days of transition from Indian to American culture as the final story - "The third and final continent" does. Jhumpa Lahiri's "Interperter of Maladies" won the Pulitzer prize for 2000 proving that to be an award winning literary work, it does not have to be confusing and complex. Two thumbs up for simplicity winning... Being of an Indian descent settled in the US, I found this collage of short stories sometimes nostalgic, sometimes a bit too familiar. The characters came to life in her stories. One feels the emotions that they are going through as the story builds up. The ending of many of her stories left much to the imagination of the reader.
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Summary: Beautiful Debut !!
Review: Each story in this beautiful book kept me mesmerized. There was such meaning and moral fiber to the characters and their struggles in trying to make it in this world as best as they can. Jhumpa has a lovely way of intertwining ones struggle with hope and dreams. All of us can relate to trying times when we need to rely on our own backgrounds and our sense of self and our own personal ethnic standards. Bravo!!
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Summary: Way too simple.....
Review: Honestly, this book is an adequate collection of short stories which involve Indian Americans. Overall, for the non Indian it is a suffient surface exposure to our culture. However, for the Indian Americans, each story's plot may be too simple when comparing it to our own lives. This book did not deserve all of its hype.
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Summary: If someone said you were exotic, would you believe them?
Review: The stories reveal to the readers "truths" about lives lived in desparation or of free will, or lives lived in situations that involve immigration, poverty, illness, or other situations billions of people find themselves in living life on Earth. This book of stories involves ordinary people then, living ordinary lives of decency or indecency, of humor, of humility and of quiet desperation, who just happen to be of Indian descent. Ms. Lahiri uses details of foods, of cooking, of color and of nature in beautiful ways and often as metaphors to exclaim and reveal to the readers, the certain "truths" or "conditions" of her characters. The stories in themselves are interesting enough, if not exactly Earth shattering as all the critics are raving. After all, this book did win the Pulitzer Prize. Fine then, why did I agonize first over buying this book, after reading one story, "A Temporary Matter," over the Internet? I also agonize over what I think about the book. As an aspiring writer, who came back to her calling after 10 years of trying to ignore the promptings with in me--as Herman Hesse said in "Demian," why was it so difficult to live in accordance with the promptings from within?--When I first found out that Ms. Lahiri, who is the same age as I am, had won the Pulitzer, my first reaction was incredulity then pure GREEN ENVY! I too was an English major, thought about getting my PhD in literature, but thought better (or worse) and got a terminal graduate degree (ha ha) and entered the professional world (ha ha). Well, yadda, yadda, yadda, I did not want to pay the price of struggling through student debts and living my 20s in the library. Oh well, these are the rewards sometimes--the Pulitzer--well good for her. Fine then. But, I agonized over giving this book 3 stars and not 4, and I agonized over why I was sorely disappointed when I read a book by someone who was my age, also Asian and a fellow writer who had made good. In all fairness, I will preface by saying that I had the same "reaction" but more strongly to Amy Tan's book "Joy Luck Club," which I enjoyed watching as a movie but DID not like from page one. This is why. As an Asian American, and as a woman, like Ms. Lahiri (and like Ms. Tan), I am ecstatic that we have a literary voice. However, I can not stomach the "exotification" of the Asian experience! It's as simple as that. Another reviewer on Amazon said that she found this book to be a bit too exotic for the average American reader, she thought. Well, let me tell you, who wouldn't find this book ringing a bit exotic. If you lived in India or if you were Indian American, would you consider yourself exotic?? Of course not! So why should this book or any book on anyone who is not of European decent be exotic?? Ms. Lahiri could have made the same observations, same insights and commentaries about the lives of her characters without employing the traditional American practice of "exotification" of experiences that are considered outside of the "NORM," whatever that is. I have to say in fairness again, that some Southern American writers also exploit, oops, explore the "exotification" of their people. Look at John Berendt with the based on truth "Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil." There are many other writers, particularly Southern, as it were, who write short and longer stories about "weird" and "exotic" people and settings. Of course, as someone once said, who wants to read about boring people? True, but does the stories, as in "Interpreter of Maladies," have to be so formulaic? Do we have to ah and goo goo ga ga over painfully ordinary activities as cooking, written however adroitly, to capture dramatic tension? Do we always have to marvel at the beauty regimens of slathering on coconut oil in our black hairs? Do we always have to marvel how different we are because we don't drive on the right side of the road like Americans? (Ms. Lahiri mentions that in India people drive on the left side of the road, she mentions this no less than in three of the nine stories, most likely to puctuate how different things are from there to here). Do we have to pander to critics and crank out contrived eloquence and cloying exoticism? Lest anyone thinks that this is a personal review, let me tell you, it is. I have high expectations of writers and of critics!
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Summary: Neither Tragedy or Hope is Temporary
Review: Somehow or another both tradgedy and hope coexist in our world much like storms and sunshine. We always know that there will be a calm after the storm and we always know that there will be another storm after the calm. I can't help but love this book, especially "A Temporary Matter", because for all it's sickeningly real tradgedy it gives the very vague and uncertain impression of hope and repair; yet another reader might find that hope impossible and yet another - perfectly imminent. Lahiri creates characters that are as open to interpretation as any living human on earth.
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Summary: Absolutely wonderful!
Review: A book to treasure.
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Summary: Doesn't live up to the accolades
Review: The first story, "A Temporary Matter", captured my interest in a way that made me very enthusiastic about the whole collection. Unfortunately, the rest of the book fails to live up to that excellent beginning. While Lahiri's writing is clearly well-crafted, she seems to lack a sense of irony, and that lack all too often creates a rather precious tone to this collection. Too much of it has the feel of workshop stories-- writing created in an MFA program somewhere and aiming at the small press market-- There *are* exceptionally good stories here, "Sexy" and "This Blessed House" both live up to the standards set by the first, but this is a writer whose voice needs to mature, in my opinion.
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Summary: Sensitive and appealing
Review: This wonderful and sensitive work documents the lives of Indian- Bengali émigrés as they struggle to find a foothold in the Promised Land. The settings, arranged marriages, clothes and spices and the ubiquitous fish may seem exotic to the average American reader, yet the theme is very universal in nature. The author is candid in her work, yet displays a lot of maturity and stays non-judgmental when she writes about her characters-such as Mrs. Croft the crusty landlady, the Indian library clerk or his 'arranged' wife- suitably imported from the sub continent or Mrs. Sen. the baby-sitter. My personal favorites are 'The third and final continent', 'Mrs. Sen's' and 'A temporary matter'. No one who has traveled across the seas as many of Lahiri's characters have, can be unmoved by her final comment in the book- as stated by the Indian library clerk in Massachusetts "Still there are times when I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known and each room I have slept. As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my imagination". A stellar work, strongly recommended.
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