Interpreter of Maladies

by Jhumpa Lahiri | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 039592720x Global Overview for this book
Registered by Bibliocrates of Pueblo, Colorado USA on 3/26/2007
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4 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by Bibliocrates at on Monday, March 26, 2007
I got this book via PaperBackSwap.com.

I didn't realize this book consisted of a collection of short stories, even though the title claims as much. I was pleasantly surprised. Great stories, overall! I was immediately captivated by the stories and found the characters to be very interesting. The stories were written from a different cultural perspective, one that I'm not too familiar with, but that was what made the stories appealing, different. My only complaint is that many of the stories seemed to end abruptly, without closing. Nonetheless, I highly recommend this book.

Annotation
2000 Pulitzer Prize winner for Fiction.

From the Publisher
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. In "A Temporary Matter," published in The New Yorker, a young Indian-American couple faces the heartbreak of a stillborn birth while their Boston neighborhood copes with a nightly blackout. In the title story, an interpreter guides an American family through the India of their ancestors and hears an astonishing confession. Lahiri writes with deft cultural insight reminiscent of Anita Desai and a nuanced depth that recalls Mavis Gallant. She is an important and powerful new voice.

This book is RESERVED for RDWirral. I will be sending it out to RDWirral shortly to revive AliceF's Bookring, which has stalled.

Journal Entry 2 by Bibliocrates from Pueblo, Colorado USA on Monday, March 26, 2007
This book is on its way to RDWirral to continue the ring organized by AliceF. I hope you enjoy the book!

Journal Entry 3 by RDWirral from New Ferry, Merseyside United Kingdom on Thursday, May 17, 2007
Got this from Bibliocrates to refresh a stalled ring

Journal Entry 4 by RDWirral from New Ferry, Merseyside United Kingdom on Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Finished this book now, I did enjoy some of the stories, but it didn't really live up to the high expectations I had had of it. Will PM PeaMartian who is next.

Journal Entry 5 by PeaMartian from Durham, County Durham United Kingdom on Sunday, December 9, 2007
Recieved with thanks from RDWirral and added to TBR below the other couple of rings I have at the mo... Hope to get plenty of time to curl up with good books over the holidays and send them on their way in the new year...

Journal Entry 6 by PeaMartian from Durham, County Durham United Kingdom on Monday, April 7, 2008
I absolutely loved this book! It introduced me to characters and situations that I would never have thought about for myself, and even if I had I would never have been able to describe them in such detail or with such clear appreciation or expression of the wider context. I do like to read short stories anyway, because I like the freedom that gives me to then think about the characters in othre situations, or imagine what came bfore/what happened next for myself. I was totally engrossed by this book, so much so that at one point a stranger had to tap me on the shoulder and tell me that the bus had reached the terminus and I really should get off now, which hasn't happened to me for quite a while!

I also enjoyed reading the other journal entries for the bookring after I'd finished the book. I hadn't really thought about the "spaces" between the characters before, but now I think I see what you mean. For me, all of the stories were really about living and enjoying your life in a new culture - finding your own place in the world. Maybe this is because I've done a fair bit of relocating myself?

I'll definitely be recommending this book far and wide...

Will send on/back to AliceF when I get her address (PM already sent for this purpose)...

Journal Entry 7 by PeaMartian from Durham, County Durham United Kingdom on Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Just a quick note to say sorry for being so slow... I finally made it to the post office today and sent this on it's way to AliceF...

I am still thinking about the characters and stories I found in this book - great stuff!

Enjoy!

Journal Entry 8 by ARTurner from Coventry, West Midlands United Kingdom on Saturday, May 10, 2008
Returned to me yesterday... thanks to all those who participated in the ring; I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thanks especially to Bibliocrates for reviving my ring... I'll send it back to you once I've read it.

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