Kahani 'jhumpa' ki. Review on Interpreter Of Maladies - Jhumpa Lahiri

I had heard mixed reviews about “The Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri and wanted to see it for myself. In the local library, I had to put a hold on it and got it issued after a wait of three weeks. I read the book in one sitting or rather two sittings – one window and one aisle – four stories on the outbound journey and five stories on the inbound journey, managed to squeeze in the extra story because of an unfavorable tail wind.

A word about the stories

There are totally nine stories and in hind sight I could categorize them from Very Useful to Not Useful - these rankings are purely based on how I felt at the end of each story.

Not Useful:

# 1. The story of Boori Ma - about an old lady cum sweeper cum durwan (gate keeper) for a derelict apartment complex - was pathetic. There were descriptions about the activities of Boori Ma, some insight into the residents and the climax where the victim becomes the accused leaves a very bad taste.

# 2. The story of a mentally challenged thirty-some girl - Bibi Halder, about her desires to settle down in life with a husband and a home of her own, about the ill treatments by her far-off cousins, an unknown rapist, a child and all is well, that ends well – now what was that?. I was totally turned off with the narration.

# 3. The story of a Bangladeshi immigrant in the US with the 1971 Indo-Pak war forms the backdrop for Mr.Pirzada comes to dine. The story lacked substance and was a diarrhea of words and pages with no coherence.

Somewhat Useful:

# 4. Miranda as Sexy falls for a married man. The story develops against the background of a man leaving his wife and child for another woman whom he met on a plane journey from the US to UK. (When do these kind of women fly – need to be booked on the same flight.) The child – Rohin explains the meaning of Sexy to Miranda “ when you love a person without knowing them at all”. The story has several gaps.

Useful:

# 5. Blessed House is a treasure chest of objects related to Christianity, found by a Hindu couple who are the new owners. The heroine is all excited about the significance of the treasure and gives them a place of importance on her mantelpiece above the fireplace. The hero is not sure about how his colleagues will react to them showing an interest in Christianity and may think that they have converted. This story was well narrated and Lahiri made some effort to describe the feelings of her characters.

# 6.Mrs.Sen’s is a at-home baby sitter for a 11 year old boy – Eliot who lives with his single mom in a beach community. Mrs. Sen is new to the US and has difficulties driving and is obsessed with fresh fish and will go any length to obtain it. The character of Mrs. Sen is well sketched.

Very Useful:

# 7. The Interpreter of Maladies starts off well. The story of a tourist taxi driver who is taking a family of American Indians (husband, wife, two boys and one girl) on a tour of Konark. The taxi driver develops feelings for the wife and compares it to his own miserable family life. He imagines a life where he is having an affair and relishes the moment when they can be alone. During one moment of solitude, the lady confesses to a past guilt which completely shatters our hero. Besides being a taxi driver, the hero is an Interpreter of Maladies – the town where he resides has one doctor who knows no gujarathi and when he has gujarathi speaking patients then our hero translates the symptoms and the treatment – back and forth. More than the story, I liked the idea of the heavy responsibility put on the shoulders of the interpreter of maladies – just think about it.

# 8. The third and final continent is the story of an immigrant who studied in UK, moved to the US and while waiting for his Indian wife to join him , lives temporarily in an apartment along with an old lady who is more than 100 years. The six weeks spent as a boarder makes him establish a bond with the old lady and after his wife joins him, he makes it a point to visit her again and introduce his wife. In the process, he also comes closer to his wife. Beautiful descriptions of the feelings involved of each of the characters.

# 9. A Temporary Matter is the best of the lot. This is the first story and leaves you wanting to read more. Maybe that was the reason why it was positioned ahead of the pack. A story of a husband and wife – Shukumar and Shobha – whose lives once were filled with joy and after the death of their first born – both started drifting apart. Each one felt very uncomfortable in each others presence and a forced black-out for eight consecutive nights – to repair damage done by an ice storm – made them unmask their faces and start conversing and confessing their deepest fears and thoughts. These talks in the dark were detrimental to their relationship. A very touching story.

A word about the background of the stories

Most of the stories were based in and around Boston with frequent references to Harvard, MIT, Charles River, Massachusetts Avenue and Filene Basement (a famous departmental store in Boston area where name brands are relatively inexpensive). It was a nostalgic trip to me having spent two years in Harvard (I mean visiting the campus on weekends), the scenic drive on Mass. Avenue, a stroll along the Charles River – someday I hope to go back there. All references back home in India was Bengal, where the author demonstrated her Bengali roots.

I would give this book a 3 out of 5 and recommend it for one reading. No need to buy it – borrow it from a lending library. It is not worth having it in your collection.

Happy Reading.