Interpreter of Maladies: Stories: Jhumpa Lahiri

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When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine: Mr. Pirzada is a botany professor from Dhaka and is living in New England for the year after receiving a research grant from the Pakistani Government; he has left behind his wife and seven daughters, Interpreter of Maladies: Mr. and Mrs. Das, Indian Americans visiting the country of their heritage, hire a middle-aged tour guide Mr. Kapasi as their driver for the day as they tour.

A Temporary Matter: A married couple, Shukumar and Shoba, live as strangers in their house until an electrical outage brings them together when all of sudden "they [are] able to talk to each other again" in the four nights of darkness. Interpreter of Maladies is a book collection of nine short stories by American author of Indian origin Jhumpa Lahiri published in 1999. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award in the year 2000 and has sold over 15 million copies worldwide. It was also chosen as The New Yorker's Best Debut of the Year and is on Oprah Winfrey's Top Ten Book List.Colección de cuentos cortos de la renombrada Jhumpa Lahiri. Ocho cuentos terriblemente tristes y nostálgicos, con bocaditos de cultura india americana. En cierto modo me hizo recordar a Gabriel García Márquez, con ese misticismo trágico que solía imprimirle a cada uno de sus relatos. Pero los cuentos y novelas de García Márquez, aunque trágicos, son memorables, e impactan; tienen cierre, y dentro de todo terminaban “bien”, con una especie de belleza trágica. Los cuentos de Jhumpa Lahiri son sólo trágicos y mundanamente deprimentes, dejándome sólo una sensación de profunda tristeza, y amargura; menos una única sobresaliente excepción. A Márquez lo llevo en el corazón, y a Lahiri, lejos de ahí. Sin embargo, ¡si tenés ganas de deprimirte mucho esto es probablemente un perfecto diez!

Jhumpa Lahiri is a very polished writer- there is no denying that. I appreciate a short story that doesn’t leave me hanging at its conclusion and for the most part none of these did.

The stories are about the lives of Indians and Indian Americans who are caught between their roots and the "New World."

An important aspect to be noted about this story is the fact that the writer’s tone in presentation of this tale of grief, tragedy and deception is in totality neutral. This neutral tone is essentially employed to by the writer as the writer, I believe desires the readers form their own individual perspectives of each character and decide who and why they wish to empathize with. This style of presentation makes provision for an unbiased formation of a point of view on the part of the reader facilitated primarily by the writer. Many a times, writer tend to shadow their narrative with their personal and judgmental opinion which I believe that the writer here has refrained from doing so making this an exemplary work of art. We know that he believes in the power of communication because he presents to us a family with no communication and all the issues that can be solved should they communicate with each other. Some people may argue that Lahiri does not believe in the power of communication, and that communication may kill a relationship. Communication is a sign of trust, you’re opening up to someone, and Mrs. Das did just that with Mr. Kapasi when she made her revelation. “Is it really pain you feel, Mrs. You went to answer the telephone in the other room. It was your mother, and I figured it would be a long call. I wanted to know if you’d promoted me from the margins of your newspaper.”Once it was dark and he began kissing her awkwardly on her forehead and her face, and though it was dark he closed his eyes, and he knew that she did too."