Interpreter of Maladies – Jhumpa Lahiri

It almost seemed like a lifetime since I had read a collection of short stories. I was also looking forward to reading a book set in India to partly quell my nostalgia, but partly to give my readers a spicy, aromatic taste of this exotic land. Interpreter of Maladies just seemed to fit my bill and so I set about perusing it. In the end, I was left with some mixed feelings about the book.

 

Interpreter of Maladies is a motley collection of nine tales travelling between the frigid New England winters to the bustling city of Calcutta in India. There is a strong undercurrent of love and longing welling up in her characters, some for their homeland, while still others for the life that once was, with the familiar stranger that they have grown used to. Through these stories, Lahiri has tried to capture the feelings of awe and fear that passes through an immigrant’s mind as they travel the seas to a land far removed from their own. All the tales are heavy with an air of poignancy, typical of Lahiri.

Lahiri is definitely a good writer with her vivid imagination and accurate depiction of her characters. It is because of this latter trait that the reader becomes quite attached to most of her characters, although they are only available for twenty or so pages. I liked her knack of bringing unlikely people together in a relationship that seems to extend it’s arms of friendship, while making strangers out of once-upon-a-time-lovers. She has brought our attention to the strangeness of the human mind when a woman cannot tell her husband some bitter truths about their relationships but can do so to someone she has met for only a day, for precisely that reason.

However a few stories like ‘This Blessed House’ and ‘The Treatment of Bibi Haldar’ seemed to have been stretching on forever and in the end, revealed themselves to be quite pointless.

 

Interpreter of Maladies is a decent choice if you are looking for a collection of stories to read.

Book Rating – 3.5/5

Book Stats:-

No. of Pages:- 198;
Year Published:- 1999;
Publisher:- Houghton Mifflin Company
Book Setting:- US, India;
Reading dates:- 05/Apr/2010 - 07/Apr/2010

Stories in my order of preference:-

Sexy A Temporary Matter Interpreter of Maladies When Mr Pirzada came to dine Mrs Sen’s The Third and Final Continent A Real Durwan This Blessed House The Treatment of Bibi Haldar

Other books by Jhumpa Lahiri that you might be interested in:-

Watch out for my next review from the exotic Caribbean island of Jamaica, A Long Song by Andrea Levy, the tale of a 19th century slave and her owners.

Broken Verses – Kamila Shamsie

After reading Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie, I was so taken in by her elegant writing style that I could not stop myself from picking up Broken Verses. Kamila has revealed yet again the artful story teller that she is. If a book can move you to tears, then surely there is something much more to it than just a story.

 

The protagonist, Aasmaani Inqalab literally meaning Celestial Revolution, lives in the seaside city of Karachi, where she flits from one mundane job to another so she can remove any spark of the person she once was willing to be, a person who thought she could change the world. Born to a highly unconventional activist mother and a regular banker, Aasmaani, since her childhood has been embroiled in conflicting worlds, an idealist world of protests and poetry which belongs to her mother, Samina and her lover, The Poet, and the pragmatic comforting world of her father and his family. Aasmaani, who cannot come to terms with her mother’s disappearance, has been conjuring up images of her glorious return the past fifteen years. She is so caught up in thinking she has never been good enough for her mother to stay, that she fails to see the people around her reaching out to her and trying to pull her out of her shell, including her half sister Razia and her colleague Ed. It remains to be seen whether Aasmaani does loosen up as this riveting tale draws to a close.

 

A literary feast, a political fiction, a tale of passionate love, the story of a person torn between her role of lover and mother, I cannot even begin to categorise what Broken Verses is all about. Kamila etches out her characters so vividly that the reader soon becomes engrossed in them. In a nation, at a time when one cannot even say the word democracy loud enough for fear of getting caught by the minions of the government, Samina fearlessly dons the activist garb and you find yourself wondering through Aasmaani, whether she stops being a mother when she starts becoming an activist. When she takes her beloved in her arms, is she any less of a mother? These questions torture the reader as Aasmaani goes through her life not being able to let go of any hatred as she imagines herself to be the girl whom her mother has left behind over and over again.

 

The sea speaks out to you through The Poet’s muse, which is a passionate rendition of his love for Samina. Their love is beyond words that, it is little wonder that everyone who loves Samina, including Aasmaani, feel they are competing with a force they cannot reckon. I loved Kamila’s portrayal of the quiet courage and determination of Bheema, Aasmaani’s step mother, who fights battles everyday at home for the sake of her family, which are no less courageous as compared to the battles fought on the street for the sake of the country.

 

I enjoyed reading the book thoroughly, although, I wish it had ended differently. But I quickly brush aside that thought as the book has too many merits to be ignored. With Broken Verses, Kamila has once again proved that she is a literary genius.

A little bit of cricket, a lot of politics, impassioned poetry, lyrical verse, subterfuge, religion, the book has it all. Do yourself a favour and grab the next copy you find.

 

Book Rating – 4.25/5

Book Stats:-
No. of Pages:- 338;
Year Published:- 2005;
Publisher:- Bloomsbury Publishing
Book Setting:- Karachi, Pakistan;
Reading dates:- 03/Apr/2010 - 05/Apr/2010

Lyrical prose from the book:-

…language somersault through rings of fire Yes, it is comforting to blame our failures on the bigotry of others, isn’t it? …lines that could wrap themselves around your chest until your ribcage cracked open and your heart lay exposed. Prayer is as quiet and as resonant as a single drop of raindrop falling on a desert. Karachi lit up in lights like a bejewelled bride trying to draw attention away from the ungainliness of her natural facade.

If you like this you might also like:-

From novels to short stories, coming up next is a review of The Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, her first literary publication.

Juliet, Naked - Nick Hornby

Juliet, Naked was one the suggestions that came up on the librarything site for Her Fearful Symmetry and I immediately got a copy from the local library. I got latched on to the book pretty fast ,  this being my first Nick Hornby selection, but, unfortunately my great enthusiasm fizzled out after the initial few chapters. But it did provide me some much-needed laughter after The Piano Teacher debacle.

Juliet, Naked starts off in a little English seaside town called Gooleness. Duncan, a man obsessed with the work of former singer and songwriter, Tucker Crowe, lives in Gooleness with his partner of fifteen years, Annie. Duncan who does not have much to show for his own life, spends it fervently spinning conspiracy theories about Crowe's life (or what there was of it from a different era), with a few of his internet buddies, Crowologists as they call themselves. As the story progresses, Annie and Duncan start examining the pointlessness of their relationship, where Tucker always seems to be lurking as an invisible presence.

Just when the reader starts warming up to the character of Duncan, he is completely pushed aside by Annie and the story starts to weave around Annie. Exit Duncan; Enter Tucker and then the reader cruises through parts of the U.S., following the life of Tucker. Duncan soon becomes a shadow while Annie enters centre stage, with her trivial crush on Tucker looming into something more dangerous and serious.

I found the character of Annie quite insipid and pretentious, exhibiting an intellect and taste for music that she very well did not possess. The Duncan/Annie pair did remind me of the  couple, Martin and Marijke from Her Fearful Symmetry, although M&M were far more interesting. If Nick had stuck to Duncan's character throughout the story, it might have made for an interesting book. The title and the beginning of the book seem to suggest some serious insights to be gained into the nature of relationships but these are soon reduced into banal trivialities. Just when the reader is about to give up on the book entirely, Nick tries to win back his/her interest with all the drama surrounding Tucker's enigmatic albeit colourful past.

All is not lost with the book as there are some places where the reader truly enjoys a good laugh. The chracter of Jackson, Tucker's son, soon wins over one's heart and as with any child, one is taken in by his innocence and the hundred questions he keeps firing back at adults.

Juliet, Naked is definitely not a great book, but might be a safe bet for that long flight haul.

Book Rating - 3/5

Book Stats:-

No. of Pages:- 249; 

Year Published:- 2009; 

Publisher:- Penguin Books

Book Setting:- UK, US; 

Reading dates:- 26/Mar/2010 - 27/Mar 2010

Similar book(s) that you might be interested in:-

Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger

Do you have a flair for some thrilling action and high drama? The Patriot's Club - Christopher Reich, my next review, is just what you are after.

The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

This is one of those books where, you know when you have read just a couple of pages that you are going to fall in love with the book. In fact, you are already in love with the book. I fiercely held on to the book for four days and wanted to keep reading it and yet did not want the book to finish. In short, I loved the book.

The author has dealt with a difficult concept - Time travel, yet at it's very core, the book is a love story, albeit a poignant one at that. Henry DeTamble has all the makings of a regular book hero and yet, he is not, at the very core. One minute he is here and the next minute he has left behind a pile of clothes. An average reader can deal with spatial displacement quite easily, however to come to terms with time displacement is a bit harder and the author has taken great pains to ensure this imagery is complete.

The scenes shift from one period to another with Henry scuttling the streets of Chicago as a regular citizen in search of drinks and women and then, a sober middle aged man just longing to be with Claire, who in turn is a budding teenager, against the backdrop of the meadows. The time periods have been clearly annotated making it easier for the reader to wander through Henry's "travel expeditions".

As Claire and Henry come to terms with his unusual condition, which has several handicaps, it does raise the moralist's eyebrow when they decide to use it to their advantage. The other interesting point raised in the book is around destiny. Did events unfold because Henry sees it that way in the future or did they happen in a certain manner and Henry a mere bystander, more of a future reporter? The contradictions and associated dillemma experienced by them is permeated to the reader. Food for thought, eh?

One of the highlights of the book is that the story is told through the view point of both Claire and Henry.All through the book one cannot but marvel at how much Claire and Henry are in love with other. It makes one want to really believe in true love. Claire comes across as a loyal, passionate person and her stray abbherations are but quickly dismissed by the reader. Music permeaded through the book quite a lot and reminded me of some scenes from "An Equal Music - Vikram Seth".

I watched the movie after reading the book, and though the movie has captured the essence of the book, so many of the little details that added to the beauty of the book could not make it to the movie.

Although a tome, I would urge anyone who wants to travel through space and time to reach out for love to add this book to their collection.

Book Rating 4.5/5

If you like this book you would also like -: An Equal Music - Vikram Seth; The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera

Watch out for my next review - The Great Indian Novel - Shashi Tharoor

Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger

After devouring "The Time Traveller's Wife" my hands were itching to get a copy of "Her Fearful Symmetry". I grabbed this from the bestseller section of my local library(www.wcl.govt.nz).

The book took me on a roller coaster ride of feelings - interesting, creepy, suspenseful, sad. The book revolves around a few stories in parallel-the twins Julia and Valentina;Robert and Elspeth;Elspeth and Edie;Martin and Marijke. As the book progresses, these stories converge in surprising ways and other tales spin off from these.

The book takes off with the twins in Chicago but the reader is pleasantly surprised to be walking through the streets of London as it progresses. For someone like me who has not been to London and rate it as one of the top cities in the "Should Visit in my Lifetime" list, I could not agree more with the twins as they were taken in by the Englishness of all things London. The vivid description of the alleys and streets of London including the famed 'Underground' leaves one gawking.

Highgate cemetry occupies a central location throughout the book and the reader has a feeling of being haunted as the story takes shape. It is quite obvious that the author has gone into great details to create the graveyard scenes and the descriptions are so real that I caught myself looking over my shoulder as I progressed through the book. There is an underlying sense of suspense that hangs throughout the book which adds to the reader's interest. She touches upon the supernatural themes in a perfectly natural tone which leaves the reader musing.

Martin and Marijke make for very interesting characters in the book but I wish there were more glimpses into their life. The character of Robert has also been vividly etched out.

On the whole this book is a great addition to your bookshelf and if I have done my job my readers should be rushing to get their hands on this book.

Book Rating - 4/5

Stay tuned for my next review - The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffeneger