Interpreter of Maladies

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

Interpreter of Maladies is a book collection of nine short stories by Indian American author Jhumpa Lahiri published in 1999

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With these nine short stories, Jhumpa Lahiri opened a window onto the experiences of Indian families dealing with a rapidly transforming world—be they living in Calcutta or Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The rituals of traditional Indian domesticity--curry-making, hair-vermilioning--both buttress the characters of Lahiri's elegant first collection and mark the measure of these fragile people's dissolution.

When I hunkered down on my reading nook to finally read Interpreter of Maladies, I did so with a staunch determination to finish it in one or two sittings.

Short stories are in many ways an acid test for a writer. While a novel is a magnifying glass providing detailed views of its characters, a short story is a surgeon’s needle that has to find the diseased spot in the very first biopsy. Lahiri has got that down effectively. Not one story in this collection of nine leaves you feeling cheated.

Interpreter of Maladies is an eclectic mix of nine short stories, all penned by genius author Jhumpa Lahiri. Published in 1999, she deservingly won the Pulitzer Prize for her work the following year, though these tales do in fact transcend time.

Jhumpa Lahiri is one of the portraits I admired recently at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C., and in order to know her better, I read her seminal work, Interpreter of Maladies. While all the stories in this collection are bright examples of Indian life, Lahiri uses several to focus on cultural differences between India and the U.S. This is especially evident in the story “Mrs. Sen’s,” which is about an Indian woman living in the U.S. who babysits a neighbor’s latchkey child. Lahiri brings us into the blandness of the woman’s life (no car, no fresh fish), while highlighting how rich the child’s life has become because of her. Another story that highlights cultural differences is “Interpreter of Maladies,” namesake to the book title. Here, we meet an Indian man who imagines an affair with a woman from New Jersey while driving her and her family to a tourist spot in India. Her sundress, exposed arms, and outspoken nature entice him. While we see her as a slightly bored, middle-aged mother, the man finds her overtly sexual, especially when he compares her to his traditional Indian wife. “Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine” delves into the sense of security we have in the U.S. when compared to the turmoil in other countries. While this story is less about cultural differences, it  underlines the point that political turmoil abroad is often ignored here unless it’s a matter of personal interest. In “A Temporary Matter,” Lahiri uses food to reflect the state of a couple’s relationship. Lahiri equates the ritual of preparing a meal to getting ready to make love. The aroma of Indian spices is like an aphrodisiac.  Eating is like making love. When the relationship begins to crumble, the couple’s interest in food diminishes along with their desire to make love. The result is a sad but very sensual story. “The Treatment of Bibi Haldar” is my favorite. It’s about a young woman who, after suffering from an unknown disease for years, becomes convinced that marriage will cure her. While Bibi searches for a husband, her family leaves because they believe Bibi will infect their unborn child. Bibi never marries, but becomes pregnant, has a child, and lives and works at a business she sets up in the building abandoned by her fleeing relatives. I would have entitled this story “The Revenge of Bibi Haldar,” but then again, I never won a Pulitzer Prize. In each story, Lahiri beautifully makes critical observations that quickly come to the crux of the issue at hand, be it a disappointed husband, a depressed wife, or a man worried about the safety of his family in a far away country. She enriches each story with the cultural experience of India. I enjoyed the intimacy of the tales. All of the stories were creative and memorable. I recommend the book with enthusiasm. [su_divider size=5]   A retired engineer, Ursula Wong writes about strong women. Her award-winning debut novel,Purple Trees, and her second novel, Amber Wolf, portray strong women struggling against impossible odds to claim a better life. Sign up for her popular Reaching Readers blog on her website: http://ursulawong.wordpress.com.