“Interpreter of Maladies”
by Jhumpa Lahiri
Published: June 1999
ISBN: 039592720x

(Updated: October 29, 2005.)

From the Publisher…

Navigating between the Indian traditions they”ve inherited and the baffling new world, the characters in Jhumpa Lahiri”s elegant, touching stories seek love beyond the barriers of culture and generations. In “A Temporary Matter,” published in The New Yorker, a young Indian-American couple faces the heartbreak of a stillborn birth while their Boston neighborhood copes with a nightly blackout. In the title story, an interpreter guides an American family through the India of their ancestors and hears an astonishing confession. Lahiri writes with deft cultural insight reminiscent of Anita Desai and a nuanced depth that recalls Mavis Gallant. She is an important and powerful new voice.

I don’t normally appreciate short stories (it has something to do with just giving me enough of a story to get me interested and then leaving me sort of flat) but this collection was different. Wonderful stories. Complete stories. Rich stories. I definitely recommend this book and give it a four out of five hearts on my “couldn’t-wait-to-get-back-to-it” scale.