Apr 08, 2004 04:38 PM
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(Updated Apr 08, 2004 04:45 PM)
‘Interpreter of maladies’ is first published collection of short stories by author Jhumpa Lahiri.
She is one of the leading Indian authors writing in English. Her achievements are indeed praise-worthy.
This particular collection can be termed as a ‘good try’ but it somewhere lacks entertainment value as well as substantial food for thought.
The very first story ‘A Temporary matter’ is the best of the lot.
This sorrowful tale is about an Indian couple living in the US. They have lost their child, and that is adversely affecting their marriage, too. When they are forced to have dinner in dark (due to power cut-off) for a few nights, they are able to hold meaningful conversations, seeking solace and support in the fact that they cannot see each other’s faces while talking.
I really liked this first story since it is very sensitive and insightful.
Another interesting story is ‘This Blessed House’. It is also about an Indian couple living in USA. They find Christian paraphernalia in their new house.
Unfortunately, the rest of the stories disappointed me.
‘Mrs. Sen's’ and ‘The third and final continent’ are average stories about Indians living in USA- their problems, issues, etc.
Story about a morally incorrect American woman Miranda fails to generate any interest.
I had huge expectations from the story- “Interpreter of maladies”, but it turned out to be mediocre.
Stories about boori ma,and bibi haldar are village tales.
On the positive side, some stories effectively express the ups and downs in the lives of Indians living abroad.
But, the author gives extremely boring and superfluous details. These stories are structured in a rather weird way and they are quite slow moving.
Most of these stories are written in an unnecessarily complicated language. Another thing that irritated me was the way Lahiri tries to tell a story from a child’s point of view- it doesn’t really work out well. And it’s boring!!!!
The tone reminded me of my primary school English textbook.
“When Mr. Pirzada came to dine” was one such story. After reading so much about the subcontinent everyday, we expect something more concrete than childish conclusions and comments about partition. Or may be, this book is written for only those people who know little about India.
She gives a lot of importance to details but doesn’t focus on emotions, or intricacies of relationships. Most of the stories don’t even have definite endings. That is annoying, because after reading the whole story, you are left wondering- “So, what was the point?”
The emphasis seems to be on packaging and presentation while the matter remains somewhat neglected.
After finishing the book (well, sort-of), I was simply amused by the fact that this book has received a lot of accolades, including some Pulitzer Prize. Yes, the prize is well deserved, because it is indeed difficult to come up with stories filled with so many confusing details and complex language. The packaging is certainly done carefully.
I always feel fiction should be easy to read. But this book lacks the ‘flow’. One needs to make an effort to concentrate, and I guess that is the reason I found the book so mediocre. It is not suitable for leisure reading.
I sum it up here-
Why to read-
1)For the first story “A Temporary Matter”- it is beautiful.
2)Because you have nothing else to do
3)Because you can impress others by mentioning that you read all the ‘Pulitzer’, ‘Booker’ wale books
4)Because you like books with many details and childish tone of story-telling
5)Insomnia
6)You don’t know much about India and Indians
Why to avoid-
1)It’s boring.
2)It hardly has any entertainment value.
3)If it reminds you of your primary school English textbook.
4)It is not lucid.
