Jhumpa Lahiri was an entirely new name to my ears when my dear friend and neighbor placed a copy of her collection of short stories into my hands the night before my husband and I boarded the plane to New Zealand. Although a deep appreciator of all things to do with India, I was skeptical at first; I'm not a particularly interested party when it comes to short stories, but Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies has changed all that. If I hadn't received the book from Erin (whose literary opinion I deeply trust), I never would have given it a second look - despite the beautiful cover (which, to me, is actually pretty important), but I'm very grateful to have added it into my library. So much so that, as the back of the book would claim, I've already passed it on to someone else to enjoy.
Interpreter of Maladies, her first published work, is both poignant and accessible, and that's entirely to do with Lahiri's honest writing style and lyrical prose. A Bengali American, Jhumpa Lahiri was born in London and immigrated over to the United States when she was three years old - where she and her family lived in Rhode Island (her father being a librarian at the state university and the inspiration for the final story in the collection - "The Third and Final Continent" - which was one of my favorites). She's been quoted as saying "I wasn't born here [America], but I might as well have been." Still, her writing is so real and true that it sounds, tastes, and feels like the dust of Calcutta was just brushed from the very soles of her feet. This is especially so during the collection's patronymic "Interpreter of Maladies" (which is incredibly well done and what I would consider to be one of the most emotionally authentic of the novel).
After quickly consuming her Pulitzer Prize winning debut (2000), I was immediately looking for more. I put my name on a wait list for her first novel The Namesake, and I began the agonizing wait for an eBook copy through my local public library. But, of course, it's good to have friends with great taste, and Erin pulled through once again with a borrowed copy. I can say without a shred of irony that this novel is worth the hype. There's always the fear that a good short story author may be incapable of carrying a full work of fiction, just as there are more than plenty of authors who are incapable of writing a good short story (exactly the reason they tend to be at the bottom of my lettered totem pole). Lahiri's way of describing a situation and perfectly inserting herself into the mind of her characters takes her stories out of the mere form they inhabit, though. Short story. Novel. It honestly doesn't matter where you decide to begin; this is an author to be drink in deeply.
If you'd like to learn more about Jhumpa Lahiri's work (including her other collection of short stories, Unaccustomed Earth, which I'm looking forward to reading and discussing in the near future), please feel free to visit her professional website. Also, be sure to check out her books the next time you're at your local bookstore or browsing online; I promise you won't be disappointed.
**This post was originally featured on The Powdered Plum.**
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