👶👶👶 Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri

I had such high expectations for this novel, since I absolutely loved Unaccustomed Earth, and would highly recommend it. However, this collection of short stories wasn’t as powerful for me. It is obvious that Ms. Lahiri had time to grow as a novelist between these books, which may account for the more subtle intricacies in the latter.

I felt Ms. Lahiri’s love and empathy for her characters in Unaccustomed Earth, perhaps because of the immigrant milieu she was raised in. However, in this compilation, I felt little passion or emotion. While the stories were enjoyable, they were not memorable in any way. I also expected the title story to be the most efficacious, but was somewhat disappointed in the outcome. For a Pulitzer Prize-winning book, I anticipated more depth.

Read 7/6/16