Ok, Jhumpa Lahiri is all over the literarosphere with the recent release of Unaccustomed Earth, and I am nothing if not a band-wagon jumper, AND, as I was just telling the Reading Fool (hi, Reading Fool!), I like to feel like a book is pursuing me, instead of the other way around. So I was PUMPED when, among the awesome books that my non-reading husband's sole literary friend lent me was Interpreter of Maladies which, admittedly, isn't Unaccustomed Earth but at least now when people are all, Have you read Unaccustomed Earth I can say something like, No, but I've been dying to ever since I read Interpreter of Maladies. Because the reason we read is so that we can more often answer Yes or No, but... to that most delicious of questions, Have you read...? Am I right?Anyhoo, I pretty well love short stories. They can't do a whole lot wrong by me, OR I just haven't read enough short-story collections to have read a bad one (books used to do no wrong by me, but then I got older and started reading outside my Sweet Valley High rut, and found myself some great big steaming piles), which is probably closer to the truth. So maybe don't listen to me, because what do I know?
Except it was so good! And I took this Indian Lit class last semester which I totally hated, but which made me love India-as-portrayed-through-literature (I expect the actual country is rather hot), and now someone's going to comment and be all like, Durrrr, all the stories were set in the States and just happened to have Indian people, which is probably true, but whatever.
Each of these short stories was fluid and charming and bittersweet, and even though none of them were all POW! The old man is really his sister in disguise! Who has cancer! at the end, they were still quietly beautiful, and I even shed a single tear. ONE OR MORE OF THESE STORIES IS SAD AT THE END, and now you'll read each one expecting everyone to die.
Ok, the bandwagon is moving on without me, and you've probably all read Interpreter of Maladies by now anyways (in which case you're sitting at home thinking, Which story is she talking about? None of them made me cry, in which case your heart is made of cigarette butts). IF you've read it and reviewed it, let me know and we'll do the linking thing.
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14 comments:
Thanks for the mention...I love your reviews. I don't even have words to describe them. Today, you seemed to be extra hyper with the POW in there, but that's cool and what makes your reviews so fun to read. I'm so glad someone else introduced me to your blog: You'll always be one of my favorites.
If you liked this one, you should definitely read The Namesake, also by Lahiri. It's a novel, not short stories, but it is AMAZING. One of my favorite books. Other books about Indian culture I enjoy that you may as well include A Fine Balance and The Space Between Us.
This one has been sitting forlornly on my bookshelf for ages. Must get around to cracking it open!
you read a lot faster than me. It is hard to read while bobbing up and down on the olyptical. But I digress. I have been making a mental list, as of late, of books that you've reviewed that sound interesting and that I'd like to read but now that list has gotten past 3 and I can't remember the first one.
Thanks for the review. I don't usually like the short story format for books, but I think I'll pick this one up. I read The Namesake late last year and really liked it so I'd like to try out another of Lahiri's books.
What a fun review! I like short stories, too. Here's my review of Interpreter of Maladies:
http://lisamm.wordpress.com/2008/01/18/142/
I also just finished a review of another short story collection, Springtime on Mars, which is nothing at all like 'Interpreter' but is also totally cool.
We may have already discussed this, in which case, shake your head sadly and say, "Wow...she IS really old." But in case we didn't...have you read A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry???
If not, go buy it online or at a bookstore immediately. It is wonderful!
Great review! I love short stories and have had this one in the back of my mind for a while now. I will have to add it to my TBR list!
I'm not that crazy about short stories but I loved this. Please tell what you read for the Indian Lit class. Please?
I figured you needed another comment from a Rebecca. :-) I read this set of stories a long time ago, but I remember that it made me fall in love with short stories again (I forget which book made me swear off of them...). Really an excellent book. Thanks for your review.
"Each of these short stories was fluid and charming and bittersweet, and even though none of them were all POW! The old man is really his sister in disguise! Who has cancer!"
lol! Well put. It's such a great collection. And the first story made me all teary-eyed. It was my favourite, but I really liked the whole thing. Here's a link to my post.
A Temporary Matter and Sexy were two of my favorites from this collection. I don't know where you live, but if you're ever in Boston, you should check out the Mapparium where Miranda and Dev go. It's pretty cool.
I've been meaning to "Jhumpa" on this band wagon for a while too. (Sorry about the pun; I couldn't help it.) I know what you mean about a book pursuing you. I finally had to succumb to Three Cups of Tea for that reason. Thanks for your witty blogs. Cheerio.
That's exactly what I'm reading now :D And I toally love it. Indian lit (btw: what did you have to read for your class? :D) is my thing, and JL hasn't disappinted. Actually, I've only read the first 2 stories so far, but I if I had time, I'd probably read the whole thing in a day :D
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