Jhumpa Lahiri is a London-born American of Indian extraction – now living in Italy and writing in Italian! This book was her breakthrough collection of short stories, and it came out before her mid-life move to Italy. It deals with Indian-Americans of various situations. Lahiri was 29 years old when this was published, so a lot of the stories are about relationships. I have become enamoured of the form of the short story and this was a fun way to try on a type of author that was new to me. I enjoy stories about immigrants who are straddling two worlds.
The book consists of nine stories, previously published in various publications. My favorites were The third and final continent, The Interpreter of maladies and A temporary matter. I saw that this book’s title got a very poor translation in several languages, where it is just called “the Indian interpreter” which misses the point so much it’s almost ridiculous. It is also strange to think that this was published 24 years ago.
Some of it seems to be a critique of arranged marriages, some of it a defense of them. One story deals specifically with views on religion and Indian identity in west (This blessed house). Lahiri is skilled at weeding out those poignant moments and sentiments that populate our lives which we don’t necessarily know how to express of explain. That is a real talent! It might be on the strength of this talent that the book was not only nominated but also subsequently the winner of the Pulitzer prize for fiction, which is a big deal.
Kinship of all Species 