By Katie,
Interpreter of Maladies is a collection of short stories with themes revolving around love, immigration, belonging and heritage. Book Magazine says of Lahiri’s short stories:
“There is not one false note here, not one misstep or hesitation.... Each of these nine stories has the capacity to amaze us.... "In Lahiri's sympathetic tales, the pang of disappointment turns into a sudden hunger to know more.... Lahiri's achievement is something like Twinkle's. She breathes unpredictable life into the page, and the reader finishes each story seduced, wishing he could spend a whole novel with its characters. There is nothing accidental about her success; her plots are as elegantly constructed as a fine proof in mathematics. To use the word Sanjeev eventually applies to Twinkle, Lahiri is 'wow.'"
Which novel was your favorite? Which do you think could be turned into a longer novel? Or which would you have preferred been part of a longer story?
How, if at all, do you feel the stories are connected? Can we find similarities between the characters and their situations?
How did we feel about Ms. Lahiri’s choice in using the Interpreter of Maladies as the book’s name rather than one of the other stories? Do we feel another story would have been a better choice in title? Or was this one fitting?
Happy reading!
ReplyDeleteHi Katie,
I was determined to comment on our story first this month and then I had a library tragedy and deleted all my reserves!! So I had to wait extra long for my copy of Interpreter of Maladies to arrive. I picked it up on Monday and enjoyed it so much here I am on Thursday finished and writing my thoughts!
Thank you for suggesting this book of short stories, I’m not sure I would have read it otherwise. I really liked this in short story form, so many wonderful tales and I was quite content to have them remain as short stories and not feel I wanted any of them expanded into a full novel. They were like beautiful gems, each perfectly telling their story.
Bengali culture is not something I know very much about and sadly I am fairly uneducated on the history of this region in the world but, this may sound off topic ,we have recently watched a cooking show called Masterchef and one of the amazing cooks to make the finals was Bengali and the she focused very much on food specific to her country of birth. I was always amazed and the delicious looking curries she produced and their seemed much skill in balancing the nuances of flavours, so that and our book this month has really sparked an interest for me to learn more of this culture, thanks.
I’m not sure which story was my favourite but A Real Durwan moved me the most.
What I really liked was the variety of the stories, while Bengali people featured in each story, I loved the mix.
I think Ms Lahiri chose The Interpreter of Maladies for the title of the book because, well it’s the coolest haha, the other title are less than inspiring.
How are you and the family going? Has your Summer been very hot?
We are on high alert here in NSW as Sydney is in an extended lockdown because of the Delta variant and cases are continuing to rise.
I read somewhere your case numbers are rising again also, is that true?
I became fully vaxed yesterday but our vaccination rates are pretty rubbish here so I’m not sure what is going to happen.
Other than that we are both well and trying to get out in nature as much as possible. I am planning a hike tomorrow to one of our World Heritage listed National Parks so I’m looking forward to that.
Looking forward to hearing from you, stay safe
Lots of love, Nancy
Oh, I forgot to put in a few suggestions for new books.
ReplyDeleteAre you OK with:
Conjure Women by Afia Atakora
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
The Song Of Achilles by Madeline Miller
let me know what you think of these :]
Hi Nancy,
ReplyDeleteHow are you doing? Summer is almost over, the kids start back to school at the end of the month. Lillian is excited because she is starting her first year of “big” school. Benjamin is much less thrilled. We hopefully have a few more pool days before we have to close it up. I love your nature hike pictures. You tempt me to visit Australia but I know that is not an easy trip with two younger children. I believe our covid numbers are indeed going up. The Delta variant is apparently causing us some grief. It also doesn’t help that many Americans are stubborn and won’t wear masks. Franklin and I are fully vaccinated. We’ll see how the school year goes with cases.
I read the book quickly but slacked with writing about it. We had a short camping trip in July and just returned from a small beach trip today. So I was occupied with a lot of family time. It was really nice. I, too, felt like I did not know much about Bengali culture and enjoyed learning about it. For example, I learned about the Bengali women putting sindooram in their hair to indicate marriage. It is very interesting to learn how different cultures display their marital status. Another example of this is the Amish, or Pennsylvanian Dutch, who leave close to us. The men grow facial hair as a symbol that they are married.
I loved your view of the stories as “beautiful gems”, quite a romantic view. And your reasoning that “Interpreter of Maladies” was the coolest title made me literally laugh out loud while at work. I can’t argue your statement. Ha! I think The Third and Final Continent would have been an intriguing title for a collection of stories but admittedly the “third” continent was the U.S. and would probably defeat the theme Ms. Lahiri was going for. I would, however, have enjoyed hearing more about the story of our narrator from third and final. I enjoyed his interaction with Mrs. Croft. I also really loved that he and his wife were able to establish a loving marriage from their arranged one.
I guess then it’s no question that The Third and Final Continent was my favorite. I enjoyed Mrs. Croft’s craziness and our narrator’s easy going demeanor. I felt that this story was a real beacon of hope compared to some of the other stories. I felt such sympathy for Mrs. Sen, Miranda, Boori Ma, and Shukumar. I felt each of these characters specifically had such sadness to them. Each had such unrequited longing in their lives. Ms. Lahiri did an amazing job being able to make the reader feel so much of her characters’ pain.
Your book choices are fine with me! I look forward to them. I would like to add:
Pretty Things by Janelle Brown
The Boy At The Door by Alex Dahl
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Please let me know if any of these are a problem. I hope to get to the library tomorrow and pick up The Coffinmaker’s Garden.
Stay well, looking forward to talking again soon.
Much love,
Katie