Rating: 
Summary: banal
Review: I was disappointed with the book even before it'd won any awards. It's shallow, banal, trite. The characters are all two-dimensional without exception. Her style? Is missing. A sensitive chronicler of the immigrant experience? - I think not - both from the immigrant perspective, and from a writing perspective. I liken her writing to Bharati Mukherji's - another author who's received undue attention, praise and adulation, IMO.
Rating: 
Summary: Exotically universal . . .
Review: I read A Temporary Matter on the NY Times First Chapters site and was immediately taken with the author's precise voice and her matter-of-fact ethnicity. When I got my hands on the book, the other stories showed the same deftness of delivery, the same luster. I finished the book far too quickly and wished for more.What stands out--besides Lahiri's writing skill--is her use of the exotic to display the universal. One of the hazards of ethnic writing is the temptation to focus on comparisons and dwell on differences. Even when cultures clash, very few good stories can stand on the novelty of conflict and unfamiliarity alone. Lahiri leaps over this trap entirely by giving us characters whose Indian heritage is woven like golden threads through the cloth of an expensive sari. Indian references add and accent but never do they overwhelm. Lahiri's characters are people first and even in their culural context, they vary in personality, circumstance, and outlook. She gives us perspectives as divergent as an elementary school-aged boy observing his baby-sitter's homesickness for India, a young woman recalling her parents' friend worried about his family back in war-torn Pakistan, an irrepressible and upwardly mobile new bride, and an older gentleman looking decades in the past to the first few years after his arrival from India. Even those voices farthest from my own--the tour guide whose other job was the eponymous "interpreter of maladies," and Bibi Haldar, a presumably epileptic woman dependent on the kindness of others--struck universal chords of desire, despair, and hope. This kind of accessibility and connection is what makes her stories stand out. My one quibble is that several of the stories seemed to end just a hair too soon, as if Lahiri were afraid of overstaying her welcome. This is, I fear, the trend in modern fiction, one I hope will soon pass. Still, she is so generous with all else, it is hard to hold a grudge. I hope the commotion attached to winning a Pulitzer Prize doesn't keep her too long away from whatever she has for us next.
Rating: 
Summary: Stories written by recipe
Review: I too wanted to love this book, and assumed I would, given the praise it has been given. I thought the first story, A Temporary Matter was excellent, but all the rest were predictable. I could anticipate what was going to happen before it did, giving me the odd feeling that I had somehow read these stories before. People talk about "workshop stories" and I have never been able to put my finger on what it is. I still have trouble defining what the problem is with this kind of story (and I graduated from a workshop myself) but now I realize that I know it when I read it. Perfectly fine stories, nicely written, but ultimately dull and uninspired, as if written from a recipe: add one conflict to one exotic setting, one case of infidelity, abuse, or angst, sprinkle with spare, clever writing and stir.
Rating:
Summary: so?
Review: I found these stories formulaic but quite good. There were touching scenes with the young couple talking about their lost son, and the Third and Final Continent was exceptional, in its sympathy. Much of the rest of the book I found a bit repulsing because it seemed like she was pulling things out, describing Boston in a way I found misinformed and dishonest, knowing she could get away with things. She can put together a story, incorporate elements into it that are common in NewYorker type stuff, nothing too difficult, nothing nearly honest enough. Not to say that it isn't good reading and that the stories are fluffy, they are not. They are well written, they just leave something to be desired, and I feel a bit like something false is thrown at me.
Rating: 
Summary: Unfair
Review: It's not fair that Jhumpa Lahiri is so insanely talented AND ridiculously beautiful. I keep reading the stories and then looking back at the author photograph and thinking, unfair, unfair, unfair. The oddest thing is that Lahiri doesn't write like the youngster she is. There's a serenity about her prose-- not that it's boring or sedate, far from it, but she doesn't need to show off. Like Joe DiMaggio, she's good enough to make it look easy (and I bet that's the first time anyone compared Jhumpa Lahiri to Joltin' Joe). While so many of her contemporaries are feverishly screwing with the margins, inserting page-long footnotes and multi-color font, Lahiri writes with the classical assurance of a master. The comparisons to Jane Austen are, perhaps, premature (we've yet to see if Lahiri can pull off a sustained narrative with the grace and genius of Austen), but certainly this book points to future greatness. Note: If this is my wife reading this, please skip the first paragraph.
Rating:
Summary: Teller of Great Stories
Review: It has been a while since a book's touched me this much. I'd put this collection of short stories on the same level as Denis Johnson's "Jesus' Son" or Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried." Unlike those two works, this one is not a connected arc of stories with recurring characters -- a quasi-novel -- but they are linked thematically: an in-depth look into the lives of displaced people in various stages of isolation. Lahiri sees these stories so clearly, you can almost feel the groove she's in. I read the first, "A Temporary Matter," in the New Yorker a year or so ago and remembered thinking: "Man, she's got it." Not only does she have it in that story, it's everywhere in this collection. Lahiri's insight into man-woman relationships is so very sharp, maybe the sharpest I've ever seen. The strongest story: "The Third and Final Continent." Much like the final stories in the abovementioned collections (Johnson's "Beverly Home" and O'Brien's "xxx"), this story lifts you right up, a fantastic ending to the collection. The weakest story: "The Treatment of Bibi Haldar." It's a fine story, but I never connected with it like I did with the other nine, maybe because it was written in the first person plural (Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," Jeffrey Eugenides' "The Virgin Suicides). "Treatment" and "A Real Durwan" are similar in the way they almost read like fables than closely-observed stories. Thanks to you, Jhumpa Lahiri, when I now see Indian people, especially the women walking in their saris, I smile. Every time I see them, I think back to this wonderful book. - SJW
Rating:
Summary: Poetry without Depth
Review: I have mixed feelings about this book. I liked her narrative; her description of the setting is very detailed and maintains a poetic flow. You can practically visualize the scene. However, I felt the stories themselves could not stand up very well on their own. Mostly every story seemed to begin and end w/ the description of the setting. It was as if the stories themselves had no point; they were created to accomodate the setting. Most of her stories seemed to lack depth; but perhaps that was due to the way she portrayed her characters as being too superficial. I didnt like most of her characters, and I didnt find their actions justifiable. The author provided no depth to her characters. Just 2-dimensional figures. This was what disappointed me.
Rating:
Summary: Delightfully Refreshing....
Review: This book comes like a wonderful breather, portraying experiences that are so universal yet dealt with in a style that is so natural and lucid.The writer has a wonderful way with words which touches one and all by the sheer irony of the experiences that the characters go through. The characters transcend time and space to reveal the quintessential human nature in all it's various forms.The events could happen to anyone, anywhere. Probably, therein lies the universality of the stories. Reading the book you emerge deeply touched.We have here one of those rare breed of writers who has the promise to deliver more in the years to come.Highly recommended for everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Don't read this review, read the book
Review: I don't want to give five stars to Jhumpa Lahiri because I feel that if I do, there will be no place left for improvement (not that there is). "Interpreter of Maladies" is probably one of the best short story collections I have ever read in my life. Unlike many of my other favorite authors (let's say Marquez), Lahiri is consistent in her quality of writing throughout the book. At a first glance her themes seem very commonplace, but her language is so eloquent, her sense of mood and detail so subtle, that everything simple turns into profound. The next day I had finished reading Lahiri's book, she won the Pulitzer Prize -- but again, who cares. The only thing that matters to me is that Lahiri has given me a new hope in modern literature. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Great Job!
Review: I loved this book! Lahiri slipped with ease from Indian life to life in New England. The stories were clear and realistic, depicting very typical Indian and Bengali traditions. I enjoyed "The Third and Final Contintent," "When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine," and "Mrs. Sen's." They all seemed very well-written and enjoyable. I would recommend this book to anyone! Congratulations on the Pulitzer Prize and great job, Jhumpa Lahiri!
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