Jhumpa Lahiri was born in London, grew up in Rhode Island and lives in New York City. In this collection of short stories her characters suffer from the dislocation and disruption caused by India's tumultuous political history. This book of short stories won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2000.

Eight of the nine short stories in this collection deal with the immigrant experience from India to America. (The other story involves American tourists in India.) Each involves an emotional journey of the vividly described characters – she has the exceptional gift, so often lacking in the authors of short stores, of fleshing out her characters as fully and as well as do many authors of novels. Some of the stories describe how the man and the woman in a married couple adapt in different ways to the experience of a new, or at least strongly modified, lifestyle each must form for life in a foreign country. A major difference between her stories and those of immigrants from other countries is that her characters come to the America already fluent in English – actually the British that they speak in India. She captures the sensual details of Indian culture for these immigrants, who now form a nuclear family since they lack the large family influence they had in their lives in India. Jhumpa Lahiri reveals much of herself in the title story – Interpreter of Maladies – which has been chosen for both the O. Henry Award and The Best American Short Stories award – because she excels at “translating between the strict traditions of her ancestors and the baffling New World” with sensitivity and graceful prose.

For many of these stories I wished they had been longer – to see what the characters would do next. Of the many words of praise for this book by other authors or newspaper reviewers, I think that the following from the Wall Street Journal best captures the essence of what she has accomplished: “Ms. Lahiri expertly captures the out-of-context lives of immigrants, expatriates and first-generation Americans of Indian descent. And she astutely shows the leaps of faith that are required to keep their marriages glued together . . . She is a writer of uncommon sensitivity and restraint.” I am looking forward to reading more of her work. I give this collection a very high recommendation. Enjoy!