Hey everyone! Hope you all are doing great in life. I am yet again with a book review of “Interpreter of Maladies”.

There are so many writers I have read, so many I am yet to discover, and despite this permanent & strange sense of oblivion, if I had to pick three of my most favourite authors, Jhumpa would make it to the list blindly. And I intend no exaggeration when I say I'm taking this statement to my pyre. Her writing stirs something inexplicable inside me, a subtle hint to this implausible feeling I have, as though her words have always belonged to me, even before I read them all. 

They look me in the eye and mean friendship.A bond supremely fresh, one I'm sure will remain for keeps. Interpreter of Maladies is no different and easily THE BEST short story collection I have ever read, perhaps for hitting me straight in places I didn't know were home. Each of the nine stories are either about Indo Americans or Bengali emigrants, commonly reeling with notions like strained marriages, longing, and belongingness.

All the characters struggle with their idea of home, and are written so simply & evocatively that they come to sound like people you've known and cared for your entire life. The casual throws of Bangla household references here and there had me fanboying manicly because I too am from Calcutta and just plainly emo like that.

My favourite stories from the lot are When Mr. Pirzada Came To Dine (I have decided he looks like Boman Irani but from Dhaka), A Temporary Matter (LOVE the idea of confessions in the dark), Interpreter of Maladies (yes, the book's named after one of its stories), A Real Durwan (my heart aches for boori ma), Mrs. Sen's (esp when she took onto the car alone) and The Third & Final Continent (major The Namesake vibes). Honorary mentions to the remaining three also because all their endings had me staring at my walls just the same lol.

It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2000 and was Jhumpa's debut book. Pick it up asap. Would recommend it even in my pure powder ash form. And I still intend no exaggeration. // Just in case you're weirded out at me eating papaya from a coconut... my mother says hi.

Hope you find it interesting. Do let me know in the comments. Have a fantastic day ahead!