Interpreter of Maladies

Jhumpa Lahiri, the 2000 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction. This slim collection of short stories was a quick read. I was a bit apprehensive when picking this one up. I had read Lahiri's full novel The Namesake a few years back and was fairly underwhelmed, but I will say I was pleasantly surprised by her short fiction. Lahiri's prose flows in each story as she lovingly reconstructs the full array of sensory glory for each of her characters.

Each of her stories explores a separate kind of sadness in her characters. Loss of family, loss of culture, loss of self, loss of faith. I think this wistful nature of the stories is what gives the collection a great deal of its beauty. The majority of the stories focus on characters who have left their native India (or in some cases have never known it) and Lahiri uses that cultural disconnect to both bind her characters together but also to isolate them.

I think mostly what pleased me most in reading this was that the way the compilation is ordered. The stories create delicate layers for the reader that pull him/her through the stories and binds them all together, even though they are different characters. It feels as though all the characters share an emotional bond. The final story in the collection shares the same sad tenor, but of all the stories ends with the most hope and a sense of peace.

Lahiri's stories are touching and thoughtfully written. With warmth and sadness she leads her characters through their lives. I enjoyed this collection and would recommend it highly to others.