Rating: 
Summary: Make it a Must-Read
Review:
Jhumpa Lahiri, whose book I stumbled upon by chance, and bought with some doubt in my mind (I have found many short-stories to be quite boring, or lacking in some other way), even if it was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize 2000, as indicated on the cover, is a showcase for the power of the short story. The individual narratives are quite varied, but share in common three elements that make Lahiri's collection a treasure to behold: They all centre around the lives of Indians, whether living in India itself, or abroad. They all share the same subtlety, realism and attention to detail, with a tinge of the enchanted. The language of the narratives is wonderfully crafted, and varies to suit the tone of each. If I were to write any more about this collection, I would be revealing little details that I would readers would discover for themselves. Let me just say this: Even if like myself you are prejudiced towards short-stories, and prefer to read through heavy doorstoppers, this collection will enchant you. It features some of the best writing I have seen published for a long time, and each individual story holds enough truth, character description and detail, to form the basis of a film. I would thus thoroughly recommend this collection of intelligent, wonderfully written stories to anybody who likes to open a book and forget about his or her surroundings, even if only for a few hours. Other Amazon quick-pick suggestions: THE LOSERS CLUB by Richard Perez, WILL@epicqwest.com by Tom Grimes
Rating: 
Summary: Pleasant, poingnant....but, perhaps, ephemeral
Review: There is a certain voice that has seemed to be develop in America letters during the past 15-20 years. This is the voice of a female; probably first generation; probably the child of parents who have made terrific, but quiet sacrifices to live in this land. This voice is not sad, but not exhuberant either. Warm, but definitely not hot. Mindful - maybe respectful - of cultural history, but definitely American. This voice belongs to Amy Tan; it belongs to Judith Ortiz Coffer; and, now it also beltongs to Jhumpa Lahiri.
This is not to say that Lahiri is unoriginal, but she seems to fall nicely in line with a continuing string of "first-generation" writers who artfully combine the cultural ethos of their past with the "cooler" landscape of America today. Lahiri, like the other writers, by no means resents her American birthright, but willfuly reminds the reader of the importance of their cultural background. Most of the the stories in Lahiri's first collection "Interpreter of Maladies" are either set in India or concern Indians who live in America but are focused on their "home" country.
For instance, in the delightful "When Mr. Pirizda Came to Dine" Lahiri describes an Indian gentleman who comes to the young narrator's house and watches the Indian news every evening with her parents. Even though it is a tumultuous time in American history, post-Vietnam 1974, Mr.Pirizda is understandably pre-occupied by the growing hostilities in his own country. His wife and seven daughters live in an Indian that is beset by civil war.
Or, another pleasant story, the title story, "The Interpreter of Maladies" chroicles a family vacation to India. During this trip, the tour guide of this trip, the "interpreter"
falls in love with the mother, who, in turns shares her inner most secret. This "affair," though, is short-lived.
There is another story, actually, "A Temporary Matter" which shares this theme of sharing deep secrets. In this story a young Indian couple exchange hidden truths during a one-hour period in which their power is turned off. (This "outage" is due to the repairmen fixing the lines, and lasts about a week.) The story ends with the husband sharing a shattering truth, but, then, like the previous story described, simply ends.
This review began with a description of a style of writing that seems to be developing in Amercian fiction - again, that of the first generation American trying to make peace with the "baggage" of the past, while embracing the demands of the present. Yet, what Lahiri does so well, and maybe too well - and I presume the others, too - is that she touches on some truly sensitive concerns then, without exploring the emotional impact of these issues, lets them go, as if they were a balloon. Ms. Lahiri, one might suggest, it is ok to cry.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling stories
Review: A collection of 9 stories that highlight relationships and identity, written with imagination and poetic ease. My favorites? "A Temporary Matter", in which an Indian couple, struggling after a miscarriage, finds solace during a week of nightly blackouts, "When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine" about a young Indian girl living in America who learns about the Pakistan civil war through the visits of a worried house guest, and "The Third and Final Continent", a story about an immigrant who finds common ground with a 103 year old American woman through manners, politeness, and civility long abandoned in 1960's America. Many of the stories touch upon the subject of Indians interacting with westerners, but not all of them. I don't usually read short story collections, but this one is exceptional and highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: A mixed bag of Indian immigrant experience
Review: A nice collection of short stories documenting the experiences of Indian immigrants. I found the stories a mixed bag. My favorite was A Temporary Matter, probing a troubled couples' ability to be honest with one another and the value and destructive potential of total honesty. The title story, Interpreter of Maladies, talks about the responsibility of the interpreter (similar to that of the author) to accurately convey experiences to those who do not understand. Mrs. Sen's shows what comes of independence in trying to adjust to a new culture and The Third and Final Continent made me think of the points in life when you can look back and realize how truly full your life has been. Other than those, I unfortunately found the other stories overly bogged down in details until they became fairly forgettable.
Rating:
Summary: Highly-seasoned stories.
Review: I arrived at this Pulitzer-Prize-winning collection of nine short stories after first reading a couple of them in "The New Yorker" magazine. Lahiri's stories are seasoned with Indian spices. Her characters are both interesting and real. For instance, in the opening story, "A Temporary Matter," we meet a married couple who have become "experts at avoiding each other" (p. 4) as their marriage crumbles, sharing secrets and weeping together in their dark house. In "Mr. Pirzada," we find the narrator carving a Halloween pumpkin while India and Pakistan grow closer to war. The girl tells us, "I prayed that Mr. Pirzada's family was safe and sound," while pretending to brush her teeth, "for I feared that I would somehow rinse the prayer out as well" (p. 32)."I could tell you stories," one character confesses in the book's darkly moving title story (p. 63), "a woman not yet thirty, who loved neither her husband nor her children, who had already fallen out of love with life" (p. 66). In another story, "Mrs. Sen's," we meet a "responsible and kind" professor's wife learning to drive so that "everything will improve" (p. 119) in her new American life, and so that she may drive herself to the market to purchase "a whole fish." She dreams of maybe even driving all the way back to Calcutta, "ten thousand miles, at fifty miles per hour" (p. 119). Lahiri feeds her characters well by serving up page after page of exotic Indian food, and lots of it: peppers marinated with rosemary, boiling pots of tomatoes and prunes (p. 7), "bright paprika stew" (p. 10), shrimp malai (p. 20), fried spinach with radishes, pickled mangoes (p. 25), "lentils with fried onions, green beans with coconut, fish cooked with raisins in a yogurt sauce" (p. 30), "tortes of pesto and mascarpone cheese" (p. 93), purple eggplant, and stew with fish and green bananas (p. 133). Some stories here are stronger than others. But as a collection, you won't go away from Jhumpa Lahiri's book hungry for good fiction. "Splendid!" G. Merritt
Rating:
Summary: So good, I've already given away my copy to a friend!
Review: I picked this up in Dubai and started reading one story.....just to pass the time in my hotel room.....and then I couldn't put it down until I'd finished the entire book. I am not a big reader of short stories, prefering the longer journey of the novel. However, Ms. Lahiri is such a gifted writer I will gladly read anything she comes out with next. The magic of this collection of stories is in how well drawn her characters are...she brings them to life, you understand their motivations, their choices, their story.....you don't feel as if they and you are simply being manipulated for the sake of a clever plot line the author wants to try out. In fact, most of the stories are not exotic, outlandish, mawkish stories.....they are vignettes from everyday life. Observations of ordinary people whose ordinary lives become sweet and memorable under the careful scrutiny of the author. The lasting impression is a greater appreciation of our lives and the stories we live from day to day. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
Rating:
Summary: Indian heritage, universal themes - first rate writing
Review: Jhumpa Lahiri's writing grabbed my attention on the first page of the first story of this outstanding collection of short stories, the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1999. Her writing transcends culture and background, instead addressing universal themes of fidelity, estrangement, cultural adjustment, marriage, jealousy, misogyny, amidst the ordinary and extraordinary lives of Indian couples and families, many having moved to America, others rooted in India.
Lahiri has the gift of creating believable and three dimensional characters, going beyond mere caricatures. Her genius is in making you feel great empathy for characters you have just encountered a few pages earlier, be they young married couples adjusting to the demands of their new spouse, often unknown through an arranged marriage, or those in their middle age, dealing with their yearnings for love or idealizing a stranger, as the character in the title story does.
This is a truly first class collection of stories, each one different to the other; I would wholly recommend this book to anyone who wants to be moved by fine writing.
Rating:
Summary: Where's the good stuff?
Review: Jhumpa's Lahiri's writing is excellent and her descriptions of feeling homesick or out-of-place ring true. What rubs off on her characters (despite the fact that they are supposed to be intellectuals) as a result of the American experience seems to consist solely of American materialism and shallowness. Mind you, as far as I can tell, the characters were materialistic and shallow to begin with -- in fact, those still in India are even more selfish, boring and immoral than the characters in the United States.
Rating:
Summary: Depressing, but extremely well written.
Review: Lahiri writes some amazingly well written short stories documenting short periods of angst or troubles for a select few. In a matter of a few pages, she expertly and discretely develops a character.
There are many great things about these stories. First off, though she talks about Indian and Indian American experiences, she successfully avoids the generic traps that have haunted Indian/Western literature and cinema. She doesn't delve into the tired cliché of how a western Indian can balance traditional and western norms, but instead concentrates on the personal and human conflicts that are universal to all. She pays particular attention to young married couples and relationships.
The only problem I had with this book is that it's too well written for a depressing set of short stories. What I mean is that most of the stories are realistic, depressing and convincing at that. Many stories are so realistic that they somehow hit close to home. Near the end I was dreading reading the stories because I knew something would happen to the main characters (spoiler - near the end, there is at least happy ending).
All in all, it's a great book for fans of literature.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant prose
Review: The "Dr. Pirzadeh" story is the best of this collection; it tells the story of the 1971 Bangladesh war of independence from Pakistan from the perspective of an emigrant listening to the news in the evenings. Very touching. The other stories are all very well told.
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