Literary Fiction · MelancholicNine stories about Indian and Indian-American characters at home and abroad
Interpreter of Maladies
Nine stories of immigrants and their children, caught between two cultures
A young couple's domestic peace unravels after confessions made during a blackout. A girl discovers her cultural identity at a Halloween party while the Pakistani civil war plays on television. A latchkey kid forms a bond with a woman from Calcutta. In the title story, an interpreter guides an American family through India and hears a startling confession. Jhumpa Lahiri's collection follows Bengali immigrants, expatriates and their children as they navigate cultural divides in search of love and belonging.
More about this book
Who
Bengali immigrants, expatriates and their children, in nine stories. One couple's quiet domestic life unravels after confessions made during a blackout. A girl discovers her identity at a Halloween party while the Pakistani civil war plays on television. In the title story, an interpreter guides an American family around India.
World
The stories move between India and the United States.
What makes it different
It is Lahiri's first book, published in 1999. Its main themes are culture and identity, language and communication, knowledge and fantasy, and guilt and responsibility. Lahiri was born in London and grew up in Rhode Island in a Bengali-Indian family, and she visited relatives in Calcutta.
Feel
A short story collection. It won the 1999 PEN/Hemingway Award and the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.