Interpreter of Maladies

published	2000 by Houghton Mifflin
binding	Hardcover
isbn	0618101365 (isbn13: 9780618101368)
pages	160
description	Winner of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, this stunning debut collection unerringly charts the emotional journeys of characters seeking love beyo...more [close] Winner of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, this stunning debut collection unerringly charts the emotional journeys of characters seeking love beyond the barriers of nations and generations. Mr. Kapasi, the protagonist of Jhumpa Lahiri's title story, would certainly have his work cut out for him if he were forced to interpret the maladies of all the characters in this eloquent debut collection. Take, for example, Shoba and Shukumar, the young couple in "A Temporary Matter" whose marriage is crumbling in the wake of a stillborn child. Or Miranda in "Sexy," who is involved in a hopeless affair with a married man. But Mr. Kapasi has problems enough of his own; in addition to his regular job working as an interpreter for a doctor who does not speak his patients' language, he also drives tourists to local sites of interest. His fare on this particular day is Mr. and Mrs. Das--first-generation Americans of Indian descent--and their children. During the course of the afternoon, Mr. Kapasi becomes enamored of Mrs. Das and then becomes her unwilling confidant when she reads too much into his profession. "I told you because of your talents," she informs him after divulging a startling secret. <blockquote> I'm tired of feeling so terrible all the time. Eight years, Mr. Kapasi, I've been in pain eight years. I was hoping you could help me feel better; say the right thing. Suggest some kind of remedy. </blockquote> Of course, Mr. Kapasi has no cure for what ails Mrs. Das--or himself. Lahiri's subtle, bittersweet ending is characteristic of the collection as a whole. Some of these nine tales are set in India, others in the United States, and most concern characters of Indian heritage. Yet the situations Lahiri's people face, from unhappy marriages to civil war, transcend ethnicity. As the narrator of the last story, "The Third and Final Continent," comments: "There are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept." In that single line Jhumpa Lahiri sums up a universal experience, one that applies to all who have grown up, left home, fallen in or out of love, and, above all, experienced what it means to be a foreigner, even within one's own family. --Alix Wilber Interpreter of Maladies unerringly charts the emotional journeys of characters seeking love beyond the barriers of nations and generations. In sotries that travel from India to America and back again, Lahiri speaks with universal eloquence to everyone who has ever felt likd a foreigner.
date added	12-07-06 edit book

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Shirley rated it:

11/27/07

Read in November, 2007

In her review in of Interpreter of Maladies in The Explicator, Jennifer Bess contrasts “Mrs. Sen’s” and “This Blessed House” with “The Third and Final Continent.” According to Bess, flawed marriage is the reason why the characters in the former two stories fail to find global and self-awareness. In “Mrs. Sen’s”, the title character “attempts to become a global citizen by maintaining her Indian identity at the same time she adapts to American culture” (Bess 125), but is un...more In her review in of Interpreter of Maladies in The Explicator, Jennifer Bess contrasts “Mrs. Sen’s” and “This Blessed House” with “The Third and Final Continent.” According to Bess, flawed marriage is the reason why the characters in the former two stories fail to find global and self-awareness. In “Mrs. Sen’s”, the title character “attempts to become a global citizen by maintaining her Indian identity at the same time she adapts to American culture” (Bess 125), but is unable to assimilate because her husband has anchored himself to an American university. Sanjeev and Twinkle “suffer a similar fate” (Bess 126) in “This Blessed House” as a result of their mismatched marriage. In the last of Lahiri’s short stories, however, the unnamed narrator’s relationship with his landlord, Mrs. Croft, leads to the satisfaction of both parties, and therefore the discovery of humanity, allowing the narrator to experience a life that is both “universally human” (Bess 127-128) and unique. In this way, transient relationships lead to the convergence of “the universal and the individual” (Bess 128).
Bess’s critique of Lahiris' collection demonstrates its emphasis on not just the immigrant experience but also human relationships without regard to race. It also suggests a theme of balance found throughout Lahiri's stories. For example, while the “A Real Durwan” and “The Treatment of Bibi Haldar” are similar in their lack of American characters, the former depicts the denunciation of its main character, Boori Ma, while the latter reveals the eventual acceptance of the main character by her community. The review, however, is limited by its omission of certain nuances. Though Bess claims that Mrs. Sen tries both to adapt American culture and to retain her Indian culture, she actually seems solely concerned with preserving her Bengali traditions, as seen by her preference for native ingredients and tools. Mrs. Sen herself, rather than her husband, causes her own loss of identity and belonging. Furthermore, the comparison of “Mrs. Sen’s” with “This Blessed House” is ill-fitting. Whereas the former places emphasis on the immigrant experience, the latter is concerned with a first-generation Indian-American couple. That the two stories are not as similar as Bess argues complicates the way the reader is able to compare the two with “The Third and Final Continent.”
Indeed, the reader must question what role transient relationships really do play in the collection. The transient relationship between Mrs. Sen and Eliot in “Mrs. Sen’s” is unaddressed by Bess. Although Eliot aids the reader in seeing the contrast between American and Bengali lifestyles, his relationship with her does not contribute to any gain in the understanding of humanity or self. Thus, not all short relationships result in satisfaction. Bess also overlooks the fact that in “The Third and Final Continent,” Mrs. Croft plays a large role in catalyzing his relationship with his wife, which comes to comprise a crucial part of his success and well being. Not only is this a beneficial marriage, even Sanjeev and Twinkle’s union in “This Blessed House” is one of not only misunderstanding but also concession. At the very end of the story, Sanjeev’s care “not to let the feather hat slip” (Lahiri 157) from the bust that Twinkle finds can be viewed as an effort to compromise with his wife despite his abhorrence of the bust. In short, the reader is not to view the relationships in Lahiri’s stories as extremes. Given the multiple perspectives with which the reader is able to view the “other,” it is unlikely that Lahiri would try to define long-term ethnic relationships, especially marriages, in a strictly pessimistic manner. Instead, Lahiri’s short stories work to deconstruct both submissive wife/violent husband and dominatrix wife/emasculated husband stereotypes. ...less

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Dianna rated it:

12/06/07

In "Interpreter of Maladies", Mrs. Sen’s is a tragic story of the immigrant struggle and an ultimate failure to adjust. Many who read this story view Mrs. Sen’s inability to assimilate solely as a result of her own short-comings, placing full blame on her. However, this incomplete reading fails to consider the external and internal social forces that buffet the immigrant body which must also be held responsible for Mrs. Sen’s end state. These forces, both external- people in soci...more In "Interpreter of Maladies", Mrs. Sen’s is a tragic story of the immigrant struggle and an ultimate failure to adjust. Many who read this story view Mrs. Sen’s inability to assimilate solely as a result of her own short-comings, placing full blame on her. However, this incomplete reading fails to consider the external and internal social forces that buffet the immigrant body which must also be held responsible for Mrs. Sen’s end state. These forces, both external- people in society of different culture, and internal- members within the home, play a critical role in Mrs. Sen’s attempt to assimilate.
Mr. Sen, the major internal force, furthers Mrs. Sen’s struggle to assimilate through his lack of action. As a university professor, Mr. Sen has a sense of belonging in the new country because he is contributing and interacting with the community. Consequently, he is more easily able to assimilate. In contrast, Mrs. Sen is up-rooted from India and transplanted to the United States as a housewife, mostly isolated. As Mrs. Sen becomes more adamant about getting the fresh fish, a symbol of her attempt to preserve her culture, Mr. Sen becomes more immersed in the university life, unable to find time to get fish or have dinner. Therefore Mr. Sen assimilates, while Mrs. Sen is left on the outside. As signs of Mrs. Sen’s emotional instability become more apparent, Mr. Sen still takes no action to help. In both cases of distress, as with the death of Mrs. Sen’s grandfather and the car accident in the end, we find Mrs. Sen’s alone in the bedroom, while Mr. Sen remains in the living room, removed from the situation (Lahiri 134). This physical divide in location is a metaphor for the divide in their understanding for each other. Mr. Sen’s insensitivity towards Mrs. Sen’s difficulties is partly to blame for the resulting failure.
Aside from internal forces, there are external forces across cultural lines which also affect the immigrant. Eliot’s mother is a major external force which affects Mrs. Sen, fueling her ultimate failure to assimilate. Eliot’s mother makes no attempt to understand and respect Mrs. Sen’s culture. Here, a cultural hierarchy is established, where Eliot’s mother believes that her “American” culture is more “correct” than the marginal cultures. Consequently, even in her own home, Mrs. Sen is violated by Eliot’s mother’s disrespect. Eliot’s mother refuses to remove her shoes at Mrs. Sen’s door and is disgusted by the food which Mrs. Sen’s kindly serves her (Lahiri118).
Mrs. Sen finds herself helpless against this imposed cultural hierarchy and tries to hide certain aspects of her culture in front of Eliot’s mother. Consequently, even in her own home, Mrs. Sen is unable to fully display her culture as she desires and therefore works harder to fight against assimilation of American culture. For example, Mrs. Sen tries to hide evidence of her cooking, one of the most integral parts of her culture, before Eliot’s mom arrives. Eliot describes it is as though they were cleaning up after a crime.
While in India, women cooked and cleaned together almost as a social gathering, here in the United States, Mrs. Sen’s feels as though her cooking is a display of her outsider status. With cultural hierarchy, Eliot’s mother establishes an opposition between American and Indian that does not allow for a middle ground of Indian American. Though in reality it is possible to find a delicate balance that is Indian American, Eliot’s mothers actions cause Mrs. Sen to believe that assimilation requires a relinquishment of her native culture. As a result, this idea augments Mrs. Sen’s aversion to assimilation and leads to her ultimate failure.

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Steve rated it:

(review of isbn 039592720X)

07/07/07

Read in July, 2007

Regarding "When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine" (bear with me--this is from a paper I'm writing for class): There are two ways that Lahiri’s story suggests the full weight and particularity of South Asian American experience can be erased or otherwise ignored. The first is through a conservative and willful avoidance or fear of multicultural realities, in order to preserve an imaginary unity and monolithic stability of American identity. This is represented within the tale by Lilia’s Ame...more Regarding "When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine" (bear with me--this is from a paper I'm writing for class): There are two ways that Lahiri’s story suggests the full weight and particularity of South Asian American experience can be erased or otherwise ignored. The first is through a conservative and willful avoidance or fear of multicultural realities, in order to preserve an imaginary unity and monolithic stability of American identity. This is represented within the tale by Lilia’s American education, which refuses to accommodate any overt signs of difference or “otherness” in its understanding of national identity.

Lisa Lowe laments this all-too common situation when she describes a kind of “immigrant marginality” that continues to mark Asian-American experience. As she puts it, “the Asian is always seen as an immigrant, as the ‘foreigner-within,’ even when born in the United States and the descendant of generations born here before...the Asian American, even as a citizen, continues to be located outside the cultural and racial boundaries of the nation” (5-6). Rajini Srikanth echoes this assertion, claiming in her essay, “When Empathy Disappears: The Disconnect between African American and Asian American Muslims,” that African-American problems, while often ignored or unheeded by those in power, still fall within the range of acceptable American cultural history. The legacy of slavery and its haunting effects, as described by Chesnutt in his stories, is distinctly 'our' heritage. As Devon Carbado argues, "people of African ancestry became American via slavery. Slavery substantially diminished, if not eliminated, the formal status of Africans as foreigners" (qtd in Srikanth, 106). Srikanth goes on to say that "the unequivocal reading of the black body as 'American'—both in social identity and legal citizenship—is denied the Asian American" (106).

The second way that unique experience can be avoided or falsified is through a kind of ethno-cultural commodification of South Asian identity, the exercise of an Orientalist gaze that reduces and essentializes South Asian American identity via a kind of panethnic lumping. This is represented in the way that most reviewers of Lahiri's work have tokenized her as representive of all South Asian American experience. According to George Yudice, this is one of the pitfalls of America's recent fascination with multiculturalism and the academy's embrace of area studies--the commodification of the exotic: "Initially a means to 'empower' excluded or marginalized minorities, multiculturalism soon became a quick rhetorical fix of symbolic inclusion and very little material gain" (221)....less

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Alex rated it:

03/06/08

bookshelves: books-read-in-2006

Read in September, 2006

THE INTERPRETER OF MALADIES BY JHUMPA LAHIRI: This collection of nine short stories won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1999. The author, Jhumpa Lahiri, is of Indian descent, born in London and currently lives in New York, so each story is a look into a different part of Indian culture or into Indian people and their way of life. The first three stories were great and the title story was my favorite. The man literally is an interpreter of maladies, who works at a hospital translating patie...more THE INTERPRETER OF MALADIES BY JHUMPA LAHIRI: This collection of nine short stories won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1999. The author, Jhumpa Lahiri, is of Indian descent, born in London and currently lives in New York, so each story is a look into a different part of Indian culture or into Indian people and their way of life. The first three stories were great and the title story was my favorite. The man literally is an interpreter of maladies, who works at a hospital translating patients’ symptoms to the doctor and in this it is revealed he has a lot of power and obligation in telling the doctor exactly what the patient is suffering from so the correct diagnosis can be given. After this story, I found the rest of book slow, kind of boring, and the stories just weren’t as engaging.

What started to annoy me as a I progressed through the book was that here you had a no doubt rich and well treated Indian woman who went to very good schools, lived in a good home in England, went to a good writing school for her MFA – probably in New York – and proceeded to publish her work in prestigious magazines like the New Yorker, and yet she is writing about Indian life and how hard it is for most people, especially those not as well off, and it just really got to me that she had succeeded in this way writing about a way of life she’d never experienced.

Now, having finished the book, my thoughts towards Lahiri have changed a little. For with her upbringing she was never able to experience Indian culture as an Indian living in India. This was no doubt a big deal to her, and is to Indian culture. A friend at work, who is of Indian decent, but born here, told me the other day that Indians don’t consider him Indian because he was born here. I realize now that this was probably the very thing that changed my mind about this book. It helped me realize that in writing these stories, Lahiri is living the lives of these people, getting the experiences, that she was never able to, and in doing so is helping to define her Indian heritage better.

The result is a collection of interesting and unique stories – perhaps not quite deserving of the Pulitzer -- about Indian people trying to live ordinary Indian lives.

For more reviews, and writings, or to buy yourself a copy, please visit www.alexctelander.com....less

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Daisey rated it:

06/20/07

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in August, 2005

Yup. Here's another writer I love, which means another vague review, where all I have are warm feelings of toastiness. (whatever that means)

I remember when I went to see Lahiri speak, I was slightly disappointed. She gave off the impression of being cold. But she's probably just one of those quiet and observant types, because this book is incredibly specific, and rarely, I mean, rarely do I find a short story collection where I enjoy every story, but I enjoyed every story in this Pulitzer P...more Yup. Here's another writer I love, which means another vague review, where all I have are warm feelings of toastiness. (whatever that means)

I remember when I went to see Lahiri speak, I was slightly disappointed. She gave off the impression of being cold. But she's probably just one of those quiet and observant types, because this book is incredibly specific, and rarely, I mean, rarely do I find a short story collection where I enjoy every story, but I enjoyed every story in this Pulitzer Prize winning collection.

What do I love about Interpreter? The fact that people who are of any race and color can relate to it. It's visually stunning, and mouth watering. Her descriptions of food are specific (because of course, food is huge in the immigrant experience. It's the one thing we cling onto, because it brings us back to our home country.) I think most people can relate to feeling displaced at some point, and especially most Americans, have that American story of someone coming to this country, and trying to find their place. The characters in her collection are so brave, and I love her, because she has this ability to make tragedy into something of beauty. I am always in awe of writers who can find some kind of redemption from situations of deep chaos, loneliness, depression, entropy, or confusion.

It's well written, it's vivid in detail, it's sensual, it's short (so you can pick it up anytime you want. Finish a story on the bus or subway), and it touches you. Really, what more could you want in a book?

That being said, like I said, I'm illogical in my love towards certain writers. And I love her. Not her personally. But her words. And her fingers that have the magic touch.

The first story of the collection, "A Temporary Matter," maybe it was because it was the very first one I read from her, gave me that punch. I remembered it clearly even two years after I read the book. The ending just stunned me. I remember clutching my chest in my living room after reading that one. ...less

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Jennifer rated it:

03/23/08

bookshelves: asian-and-asian-american, minority-author-or-topic, short-story

Read in March, 2008

Interpreter of Maladies is the first Pulitzer prize-winning work that I have read, and I've always been skeptical about the politics of award-giving, but Jhumpa Lahiri has earned her Pulitzer prize, suprisingly enough in her first published work, this debut collection of short stories. Not only the does Lahiri insightfully communicate, in decpetively simple language, Indian/Pakistani/Bengali and Indian-/Pakistani-/Bengali- American experiences, but she also evokes empathy and understandi...more Interpreter of Maladies is the first Pulitzer prize-winning work that I have read, and I've always been skeptical about the politics of award-giving, but Jhumpa Lahiri has earned her Pulitzer prize, suprisingly enough in her first published work, this debut collection of short stories. Not only the does Lahiri insightfully communicate, in decpetively simple language, Indian/Pakistani/Bengali and Indian-/Pakistani-/Bengali- American experiences, but she also evokes empathy and understanding in her readers, gently rebuking them to refect about their own lives, perceptions, and actions. Lahiri's short stories go far beyond stereotypes and oft-seen, bare-bones frames of the "immigrant experience," or 2nd generation pressures of "straddling two cultures." Although Lahiri does address these two themes, along with many others, in Interpreter of Maladies, she surpasses other works of similar themes, successfully fleshing out her charaters and situations, giving them emotional and societal depth and impact. Furthermore, Lahiri's stories do not merely tell the tale of a non-white, non-Western "outsider" finding his/her way in the strange society of America. While Lahiri conveys feelings of marginalization an alienation expertly, these feelings are not limited to the "outsider" characters, nor are they ascribed mainly to the "immigrant experience." Rather, Lahiri impressively and insightfully recounts her nine tales from different perspectives, "outsider" and "insider," child and adult, man and woman, communicating the fact idea that all humans, in various situations and for various reasons feel foreign, are adrift society, and are seeking comfort and love. In Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies, one will discover a treasure, a piece that reminds us of our common humanity without trivializing the cultural, family, class, and other influences that shape individual experiences, and also helping and motivating us to see others as unique and complex parts to the whole of humanity....less

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Kavitha rated it:

05/13/08

bookshelves: awardwinning

Read in September, 2007

Once again, a very depressing storyline from yet another author of Indian origin. Remember! I am not being parochial here, I am Indian myself. Being very familiar with Indian cinematography and screenplays, I know that Indians are prone to over emphasizing on family sentiments and emotions. But what I fail to understand is how authors based out of other countries too have the same idea of applying sentiments in a very negative sense to their stories. It also beats me how this won the Pulitzer, j...more

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Yosita rated it:

(review of isbn 0006551793)

07/17/07

Read in January, 2001

Interpreter Of Maladies was my first literary journey with an Indian author. The book that caused this so-called addiction that I now have for Indian writers. This Pulitzer, New Yorker and PEN/Hemingway Award winner consists of nine short stories that delve into the lives of Indians living in a foreign land, struggling to balance between their traditional values and the demands of today’s modern ways. A beautiful descriptive insight into what goes on behind the closed doors of these people’s...more

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Julie rated it:

04/12/08

Read in April, 2008

Had a really hard time putting this one down ... I fell in love with Shoba and Shukumar, and with Twinkle especially.

Jhumpa Lahiri has made of herself an Interpreter of Maladies: in these stories her lovingly crafted characters, precisely chosen details, and intensely real storylines serve to describe and translate the symptoms, fears, and experiences of diaspora. As I put down the book, I felt like she had said to me, "I didn't need you to read a whole novel. I did not write out for y...more

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MAP rated it:

(review of isbn 039592720X)

10/06/07

bookshelves: bookgroup

Read in March, 2002

This is a book of short stories written by a woman of Indian background. It is beautifully written, and in many cases, filled with emotions such as loneliness, and irony. The immigrant experience is marvelously chronicled here.

One of my favorite stories is “Mrs. Sen’s”. This is a story about the woman who does after-school baby sitting for 11 year old Eliot. Eliot’s parents have split, and his mother finds Mrs. Sen, but since Mrs. Sen does not drive (she is an immigrant, living i...more

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Kirk rated it:

04/29/08

bookshelves: currently-teaching

Read in July, 2001

How weird that there's no cover image here. Not like Lahiri is either obscure or out of print. [Rev: Hey, somebody posted the cover! Yea!-4/12/08] Anyway, the author recently caused a mini-controversy by complaining publicly about reviewers questioning her focus on Indian-Americans. Her rhetorical-question response was, "Do people ask Updike and Roth when they're going to write about something other than WASPS and Jews?" Well, as a matter of fact, they do, and they have for probably th...more

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Carolyn rated it:

(review of isbn 039592720X)

06/14/07

bookshelves: own

Read in December, 2006

"Miranda closed her eyes and saw deserts and elephants, and marble pavilions floating on lakes beneath a full moon. One Saturday, having nothing else to do, she walked all the way to Central Square, to an Indian restaurant, and ordered a plate of tandoori chicken. As she ate she tried to memorize phrases printed at the bottom of the menu, for things like "delicious" and "water" and "check, please." The phrases didn't stick in her mind, and so she began to st...more

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Amanda rated it:

05/09/08

bookshelves: fiction-favorites

Read in May, 2008

I really loved The Namesake so I have been very eager to read this book. I once read part of the first chapter while sitting in a bookstore and was very intrigued, but until I opened the book to begin it yesterday I didn't realize that it was a short story collection! That was a bit of a surprise. But it was really done very well, I love the way the stories are set up. Most are not quite full stories, just a glimpse into the character's life. Yet they are complete and the characters were all ful...more

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hadashi rated it:

04/20/07

Read in July, 2006

Short stories about Indians, mostly Bengali, most of whom are immigrants to America. i love "This Blessed House," finding it instructive to me & TT, a matched pair who delight in small things and are both spontaneous and curious and like to walk hand in hand to nowhere to eat ice cream. some stories make me doubt my heart, doubt love and marriage and fidelity, and make me glad to have married late and for love and with my own self intact. the last story, "The Third & Fi...more

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Shoshanapnw rated it:

01/11/08

bookshelves: 2007, asia, fiction-literature

The general malady relentlessly presented in this short story collection is tension in relationships--particularly marital relationships, but others as well. The more specific malady is the existential and pragmatic shock of the Emergency--the 1947 partition of Pakistan--and the later secession of Bangladesh. These sociocultural and political ruptures form the nominally-explicit back story that informs the protagonists' emotional wariness and disillusion.

The best stories are about contempor...more

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Analisa rated it:

02/15/08

Read in February, 2008

I don't usually like short stories because I like the slow development of characters, the finding out new things about them that make you appreciate them. I guess that is why I like series. If you get a character you like you can see them grow throughout the series' life. That all being said, I think that is the purpose of beautiful story collections such as these, you are not meant to know all the nuances of the characters, but only see a sliver of them, that one moment, that one side.

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Alyssa rated it:

(review of isbn 039592720X)

01/30/08

Read in January, 2008

After reading Jhumpa Lahiri's second book, The Namesake, I ejoyed it so much that I decided to read her other book The Interpreter of Maladies. I was surprised to find out that this book was actually a collection of short stories that ranged anywhere from a boy and his babysitter to a first generation Indian family. I enjoyed this book because the topics of the short stories were so diverse and because of her writing style. Like The Namesake her writing was simple yet able to convey emotion and ...more

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Evan rated it:

(review of isbn 039592720X)

09/26/07

bookshelves: gave-up

Read in October, 2007

not a bad book, just not as inventive or exciting as I was hoping from something so widely praised. but i guess books this popular can't be that challenging (yes, i'm sure there are a ton of examples to prove me wrong there).

most annoying aspect -- food. there's food everywhere. every time someone is in the kitchen they are cooking something. and not just "dinner" but "radishes in milk" or "onions in a delightful chutney." If i had to read one more savory descri...more

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Gwen rated it:

02/03/08

bookshelves: anthology, fiction

Read in February, 2008

recommended to Gwen by: Adrienne
recommends it for: fans of good stories

I can now say after reading both of Jhumpa Lahiri's published books that I really love her writting style. She has a way of establishing a bond between the reader and the characters in the story that I really cannot begin to describe. I understand what it is to be stuck as a doctor's interpreter outside of Calcutta, India longing to share a bond with an American woman who looks at me as a father because Lahiri describes that man to me. I felt the same way when reading Namesake.

This co...more

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Brian rated it:

03/28/08

Read in March, 2008

Interpreter of Maladies was a nice "waiting for the bus book" for the week- nice and thin with engaging short stories. I enjoyed this one more than The Namesake (same author) because the stories were more universal, less dependent on the Bengali immigrant background that drove The Namesake. The stories were compactly wound around the central ideas, and because they did not rely heavily on background (extensive exposition isn't feasible in a short story format), I could often imagine