A few years ago I read Jhumpa Lahiri's second book and first full novel, The Namesake. I was floored by her simple way of telling a quite mundane story but using such beautiful prose that even the most ordinary detail or action seemed profound. Lahiri has a gift in her writing that allows her to be both insanely descriptive and incredibly simple at the same time.
Her first book, Interpreter of Maladies, a collection of nine short stories, is no exception to her talented style of writing. Published in 1999, this Pulitzer Prize winner centers each story around the life of either an Indian or Indian-American and a vignette in their life.
My favorite story was about a poor woman who swept the stairs of an apartment building in India who claimed she once had a luxurious life with servants, a mansion of a house, and glamorous parties all the time. The people of the building, not wealthy themselves, humored her and treated her kindly by allowing her a space to sleep in exchange for hr cleaning and door-guarding services. Circumstances conspire and, while feeling momentarily useless, she leaves the building and wanders the city. When she returns, her life has changed again, possibly for the second time.
Despite the personal tragedies, some self-imposed, that her characters are in, the story unfolds before the reader in such beautiful language that it hard to determine if, as the last paragraph come to an end, you liked the story or not. In the end, I think most readers will concede that Lahiri is painting truth through words on paper and in lieu of the sometimes sad lives her characters lead, they reflect a certain relatability that is endearing.
Sergio del Limónar
No comments:
Post a Comment