Title: Interpreter of Maladies
Publication Year: 2000
Plot: 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.
Trivia: It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award in the year 2000 and has sold over 15 million copies worldwide.
“I liked it, but I didn’t like it,” said our discussion leader of Interpreter of Maladies. “Her writing is really good, and she says a lot with a little. But man, these stories are kinda depressing.” The rest of the group shared that sentiment to varying degrees. Everyone agreed Jhumpa Lahiri is a wonderful writer and she is able to transport us to specific scenes with detailed characters. The readers felt like they got to briefly drop in with these people and see what they were up to. But they admitted there was a good amount of unhappiness in some of these stories.
The first story we talked about was the titular story. In the story, a woman opens up to her tour guide regarding the secret origin of one of her children. We talked about how it is sometimes easier to open up to strangers, and about why that is. One reader supposed it’s because we can tell them something, knowing we’ll most likely never see them again. There is no impact on immediate relations or siutations. And sometimes, we just need to get something off of our chest. Another reader likened it to therapy. “It’s like how people open up to barbers or the people that do their nails. They are safe people to talk to.”
Speaking of secrets, the story A Temporary Matter was one we talked about. In this one, a couple tells each other secrets three nights in a row while the power to their home is off. Secrets are powerful to share and to hear. The readers said sometimes they think they want to hear a secret, and then instantly regret hearing it. For example, they try not to hear about anyone’s crimes, and they don’t love it when someone springs their crime on them. “We don’t want that in our head…it changes how we think,” said one reader.
Throughout the stories, there are some arranged marriages, as is the tradition with some Indians. Again, the readers could relate this to their current situation. “It’s like a celly or a bunky. We don’t get to pick them, but we have to live with them and hope we like them.” In the story This Blessed House, the wife uncovers all kinds of Christian paraphanalia in their new home. She likes it and chooses to display it, much to her husband’s disliking, since they are not Christian. One reader said he is Buddhist and one of his “bunkies” was devoutly Christian. He insisted on plastering their living space with crosses and posters. The Buddhist reader said it didn’t bother him too much, but a few folks asked him if he had converted.
In our reading group, we have 3 folks whose family immigrated or they immigrated themselves. The aspects in these stories of straddling two cultures resonated with them. I was happy when one of them shared what is perhaps my favorite paragraph from the final story, The Third and Final Continent. Here it is:
In my son’s eyes I see the ambition that had first hurled me across the world. In a few years he will graduate and pave his own way, alone and unprotected. But I remind myself that he has a father who is still living, a mother who is happy and strong. Whenever he is discouraged, I tell him that if I can survive on three continents, then there is no obstacle he cannot conquer. While the astronauts, heroes forever, spent mere hours on the moon, I have remained in this new world for nearly thirty years. I know that my achievement is quite ordinary. I am not the only man to seek his fortune far from home, and certainly I am not the first. Still, there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have travelled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept. As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my imagination.
The reader that shared this really appreciated this piece of writing. He said it allowed him to have some perspective on his life and be proud of some of the things he has lived through. It’s just beautiful writing right there.
All in all, the readers enjoyed the book, even with some of the unhappy elements. They are impressed with the details Lahiri manages to squeeze into a small space. Everyone found something they could relate to, or something that reminded them of their childhood or another part of their life.
That’s it for this week’s discussion. We’re off for a week while the readers make their way through The Sympathizer. We hope you’re reading something good.
Until then,
E.
If you would like to read Interpreter of Maladies, here are some links: