Jun

16

Book ‘Em: Marriage, And Malady.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

June 16, 2008 |

While the stories in Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri move back and forth between the United States and India, most of them revolve around relationships between husbands and wives, particularly arranged marriages, and how one or both must change, compromise, compensate in order to make the relationship survive. Most of the stories are about Indians, although the fifth story in the book, Sexy, is about a woman having an affair with an Indian man–a man who, although he remains largely off-camera in the story–has apparently had previous affairs. This story of loneliness, of a woman trapped by her circumstances in a solitary existence, is made even more striking by the fact that it follows the story A Real Durwan, about an old Indian woman whose place in society is, at best, poorly defined, and whose security is tenuous.

Food is also a common theme in Lahiri’s work; it’s often understated, although it’s important in stories like the opening A Temporary Matter, and even in the funny, thoughtful story This Blessed House, about a very self-conscious, very prim husband named Sanjeev and his wife Twinkle, who is his complete opposite, his need to make sure everyone at a housewarming party has enough to eat and drink is both central and a distraction from his discomfort.

Amazingly for a book of short stories, and even more for a first book, Interpreter of Maladies won the Pulitzer Prize. Lahiri has recently followed it up with a new collection of short stories, Unaccustomed Earth.


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