Jhumpa Lahiri as an Interpreter of Maladies

I recently finished Lahiri’s debut, pulitzer winning short story anthology. Frankly, I had avoided Lahiri’s work so far, afraid that it might not be a good time investment. But now that I’ve read it, I feel as if I’ve discovered the genre that I would like to really immerse myself in. These stories on Indian immigrants (specifically, Bengalis) possess a raw quality that they can be cherished by not only Indians living abroad but also those who have traveled away from their homes - a journey which everyone of us takes at some point in our lives. 

Lahiri interprets maladies that succumb every common man and woman, and portrays them through her plain stories which in themselves posses little story or plot. But it’s her character analysis and the overall painting that she creates with her rich and specific prose that inspires me. While I loved each one of her stories in the book, I very much related to the last story titled “The Third and Final Continent” where the Indian narrator is exulting over the fact that he has survived in a foreign land. Here’s a quote from the text,

“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 traveled, 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.”