Interpreter of Maladies

Product Details

Author : Jhumpa Lahiri
Binding : Hardcover
EAN : 9780618101368
Number of Pages : 208
Product Group : Book
Publication Date : 2000-05
Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Company
UPC : 046442101363

ASIN : 0618101365

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Editorial Reviews

From Amazon.com

Mr. Kapasi, the protagonist of Jhumpa Lahiri's title story, would certainly have his work cut out for him if he were forced to interpret the maladies of all the characters in this eloquent debut collection. Take, for example, Shoba and Shukumar, the young couple in "A Temporary Matter" whose marriage is crumbling in the wake of a stillborn child. Or Miranda in "Sexy," who is involved in a hopeless affair with a married man. But Mr. Kapasi has problems enough of his own; in addition to his regular job working as an interpreter for a doctor who does not speak his patients' language, he also drives tourists to local sites of interest. His fare on this particular day is Mr. and Mrs. Das--first-generation Americans of Indian descent--and their children. During the course of the afternoon, Mr. Kapasi becomes enamored of Mrs. Das and then becomes her unwilling confidant when she reads too much into his profession. "I told you because of your talents," she informs him after divulging a startling secret. I'm tired of feeling so terrible all the time. Eight years, Mr. Kapasi, I've been in pain eight years. I was hoping you could help me feel better; say the right thing. Suggest some kind of remedy. Of course, Mr. Kapasi has no cure for what ails Mrs. Das--or himself. Lahiri's subtle, bittersweet ending is characteristic of the collection as a whole. Some of these nine tales are set in India, others in the United States, and most concern characters of Indian heritage. Yet the situations Lahiri's people face, from unhappy marriages to civil war, transcend ethnicity. As the narrator of the last story, "The Third and Final Continent," comments: "There are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept." In that single line Jhumpa Lahiri sums up a universal experience, one that applies to all who have grown up, left home, fallen in or out of love, and, above all, experienced what it means to be a foreigner, even within one's own family. --Alix Wilber

Customer Reviews

Poignant, Imaginative, Worldly--A Winner in All Respects!! (2007-02-25)

I'm not going to lie--this isn't the type of book I typically choose. I am generally instantly drawn to the girly pink covers of chick-lit books. I got this book only to read something impressive in front of my father while visiting home.What a surprise I was in for! Lahiri's exquisite prose, beautiful language and imaginative stores drew me right in. The tales are very realistic and tell of feelings that people can really relate to, while informing the reader about various aspects of Indian culture in a very enthralling way. At the end of the book, I felt like a more informed, more cultured, and a more open minded person. Not only will Lahiri entertain without losing your attention for a minute, but her stories will leave you contemplating things about life and cultures you may never have thought about before. A must-read for just about anyone--guys, girls, young or old. If writing is an art, this piece should be worth millions

Very interesting (2005-08-13)

A wonderful collection of short stories about people and relationships. It is a hilarious mix of India and America, of traditional and modern, love, jealousy, grief, loneliness and dreams. Ms Lahiri successfully cut across cultural boundaries through characters that imprint themselves in the minds of readers of al backgrounds. It is understandable why Ms. Lahiri won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the O. Henry Award and the Pen/Hemingway Award in her first published work. She possesses a huge vocabulary and unique writing style. I also recommend For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, The Usurper and Other stories, The Catcher in the Rye. Short stories like these are a rare gift to the reading world.

Make it a Must-Read (2005-07-13)

Jhumpa Lahiri, whose book I stumbled upon by chance, and bought with some doubt in my mind (I have found many short-stories to be quite boring, or lacking in some other way), even if it was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize 2000, as indicated on the cover, is a showcase for the power of the short story. The individual narratives are quite varied, but share in common three elements that make Lahiri's collection a treasure to behold: They all center around the lives of Indians, whether living in India itself, or abroad. They all share the same subtlety, realism and attention to detail, with a tinge of the enchanted. The language of the narratives is wonderfully crafted, and varies to suit the tone of each. If I were to write any more about this collection, I would be revealing little details that I would readers would discover for themselves. Let me just say this: Even if like myself you are prejudiced towards short stories, and prefer to read through heavy doorstoppers, this collection will enchant you. It features some of the best writing I have seen published for a long time, and each individual story holds enough truth, character description and detail, to form the basis of a film. I would thus thoroughly recommend this collection of intelligent, wonderfully written stories to anybody who likes to open a book and forget about his or her surroundings, even if only for a few hours. But try it for yourself! Pick up a copy! Another book I need to recommend -- completely unrelated to Jhumpa Lahiri, but very much on my mind since I purchased a "used" copy off Amazon is "THE LOSERS CLUB: Complete Restored Edition" by Richard Perez, an exceptional, highly entertaining little novel I can't stop thinking about.

Make it a Must-Read (2005-06-17)

Jhumpa Lahiri, whose book I stumbled upon by chance, and bought with some doubt in my mind (I have found many short-stories to be quite boring, or lacking in some other way), even if it was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize 2000, as indicated on the cover, is a showcase for the power of the short story. The individual narratives are quite varied, but share in common three elements that make Lahiri's collection a treasure to behold: They all center around the lives of Indians, whether living in India itself, or abroad. They all share the same subtlety, realism and attention to detail, with a tinge of the enchanted. The language of the narratives is wonderfully crafted, and varies to suit the tone of each. If I were to write any more about this collection, I would be revealing little details that I would readers would discover for themselves. Let me just say this: Even if like myself you are prejudiced towards short stories, and prefer to read through heavy doorstoppers, this collection will enchant you. It features some of the best writing I have seen published for a long time, and each individual story holds enough truth, character description and detail, to form the basis of a film. I would thus thoroughly recommend this collection of intelligent, wonderfully written stories to anybody who likes to open a book and forget about his or her surroundings, even if only for a few hours. But try it for yourself! Pick up a copy! Another book I need to recommend -- completely unrelated to Jhumpa Lahiri, but very much on my mind since I purchased a "used" copy off Amazon is "THE LOSERS CLUB: Complete Restored Edition" by Richard Perez, an exceptional, highly entertaining little novel I can't stop thinking about.

Make it a Must-Read (2005-05-22)

Jhumpa Lahiri, whose book I stumbled upon by chance, and bought with some doubt in my mind (I have found many short-stories to be quite boring, or lacking in some other way), even if it was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize 2000, as indicated on the cover, is a showcase for the power of the short story. The individual narratives are quite varied, but share in common three elements that make Lahiri's collection a treasure to behold: They all center around the lives of Indians, whether living in India itself, or abroad. They all share the same subtlety, realism and attention to detail, with a tinge of the enchanted. The language of the narratives is wonderfully crafted, and varies to suit the tone of each. If I were to write any more about this collection, I would be revealing little details that I would readers would discover for themselves. Let me just say this: Even if like myself you are prejudiced towards short stories, and prefer to read through heavy doorstoppers, this collection will enchant you. It features some of the best writing I have seen published for a long time, and each individual story holds enough truth, character description and detail, to form the basis of a film. I would thus thoroughly recommend this collection of intelligent, wonderfully written stories to anybody who likes to open a book and forget about his or her surroundings, even if only for a few hours. But try it for yourself! Pick up a copy! Another book I need to recommend -- completely unrelated to Jhumpa Lahiri, but very much on my mind since I purchased a "used" copy off Amazon is "THE LOSERS CLUB: Complete Restored Edition" by Richard Perez, an exceptional, highly entertaining little novel I can't stop thinking about.

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