Jhumpa Lahiri's - Interpreter of Maladies
Genre : Collection of Stories
Rating : 4/5
Pulitzer Award winner and the most talked about book of Jhumpa Lahiri!
This book is the collection of 9 stories casting Indians (Bengalis to be specific) in India and in America. I have mixed feelings for this book as a whole. Few good stories stave me off from rating it negative and others do not vouch enough for being elite.
Out of all I liked the story - The Real Durwan which is about a poor old lady who lives on the stairway of an apartment complex. She claims to be from a rich family but had lost all the fortune when she found aslyum in West Bengal as an effect of war. Her rantings of how her life fell from riches to rags brings smile on your face. The end is little touchy but overall the story is good.
I also appreciated the last story - The third and Final Continent about a character who has travelled from India to Great Britain and then to America. The story is focused on his initial days in America (with the backdrop of Boston).
The casts of the stories vary from the first and second generation Indians in America to people in and around Calcutta. Jhumpa's characters face some kind of identity crisis or isolation. There is little malady involved in their lives. As compared to the online reviews and those I received from my friends, this book disappointed me a little. Writing style again proves Jhumpa Lahiri as an excellent story-teller. Mind you, I do not doubt her writing skills. I am still a fan of her and would not mind reading her more. But I am not happy with the stories. Surprisingly not even a single story I wish to hold near my heart. I somehow do not devour the stories invloving divorces, unhappy marriages or infidelity. Though the scripts were not overly emotional, the tinge of nuptial-sorrow killed my interest. Why is it shown that when Indian women come to US they live a melancholic life? Why is it shown that each and every marriage demands adjustment? Why wasn't there a single story of made-for-each-other or a happy couple? Aloofness each and everybody suffers when they come to America is showcased very well but the stories fail to explain that this aloofness is only a small part of their lives in America and it is not to be taken as the only emotion!
The front cover of Interpreter of Maladies quotes Amy Tan's review - Jhumpa Lahiri is the kind of writer who makes you want to grab the next person you see and say, 'Read This'! Yes, Jhumpa Lahiri IS one of the finest story writer but I would prefer being neutral in recommending this book.
posted by Mrinal at
5:00 PM
4 Comments:
i liked boori maa too!! ..it was the best..and true to a good extent..you can almost think of a boori maa that you know while reading that...
and yes, the stories have a melancholic tinge to them..and i think they are true for the most part...but the point is that the book is filled with short stories of the same tone....there is no variety..even her namesake is the same...it would be interesting to see if she can break the mould and come up with something not related to NRI or the immigrant feel in any way!! i somehow feel that she would not be able to do that....
~Victim : If she cannot come outta NRI circle she can atleast write about some funny / happy incidents. What say?
her style of writing is not suited for funny stories..but i would like to give it a try...
and a real good news that I heard sometime back was that Arundhati Roy is going to write fiction again!! Even if I personally never get to read it, I am still happy because the world will be gifted with some more EXCELLENT writing :)
~Victim : Cool.. Lemme know when it is in the market.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home