GREAT READS

Interpreter of Maladies: Stories

Jhumpa Lahiri.

The book "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri is a collection of short stories with a central theme of Indian culture. Short stories do not usually interest me, but the characters, the story lines, and the beautiful writing style make this a great read. This is a debut for the author (1999), and she won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, the PEN/Hemingway Award, the New Yorker Debut of the Year award, an American Academy of Arts and Letters Addison Metcalf Award, and a nomination for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She also was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2002.

Awards are impressive, but they do not always indicate a book the public will enjoy. These individual stories are each crafted with very believable characters, life situations, and emotions. If you are looking for something different from a lengthy novel, these short stories will touch your heart. If you enjoy this book, Jhumpa Lahiri also wrote "The Namesake" (2003) and "Unaccustomed Earth" (2009).

Recommended by Kristi Burr