A Century of Books can sometimes turn up some real gems that I wouldn’t have otherwise read. When I was looking through my books, I didn’t find anything I particularly wanted to read from 1999 – so I did some googling about 1999 books, and decided to listen to the audiobook of Jhumpa Lahiri’s debut collection of short stories. And, my goodness, it’s among the best short story collections I’ve ever read.
The stories are mostly about the lives of people in India or part of the India disapora abroad – largely the US. Each story is primarily about relationships – the things that are said and unsaid, or taken for granted, or misunderstood. Lahiri is so, so good at circling around a pairing of people, whether they are a couple, colleagues, or strangers, and gradually creating a complex portrait that tells us about their whole lives in a snapshot.
Two of my favourite stories in the collection are about married couples. In the opening story, ‘A Temporary Matter’, Shukumar and Shoba are a couple whose relationship has grown strained and silent – but they take advantage of a protracted power cut to use each evening to share things they’ve never told each other. (‘The notice informed them that it was a temporary matter; for five days their electricity would be cut off for one hour, beginning at eight P.M.’) The secrets range from surprising to bitterly shocking. It’s such a beautiful and restrained portrait of a couple who have faced tragedy and don’t know how to communicate.
The other married couple I was fascinated by are Sanjeev and Twinkle in ‘This Blessed House’. They have recently moved to a new home in Connecticut, and begin to find Christian relics around the house, hidden in corners, behind radiators, in drawers. Twinkle is delighted by them all – while Sanjeev doesn’t understand, since they aren’t Christians, and is increasingly embarrassed by her exuberance. It’s perhaps the funniest story in the collection, but still has a lot to say about a marriage where husband and wife don’t quite understand each other – and what happens when only one of the pair is troubled by this.
I’ll just mention the title story, since you might be wondering what an ‘Intepreter of Maladies’ is. Mr and Mrs Das are Indian Americans visiting India – they have grown up abroad and don’t understand either the language or the culture, but treat it with the slightly patronising fondness of the tourist. Mr Kapasi is hired as their driver and tour guide – when he is not doing this work, he is a translator at a doctor’s clinic. While Mr Kapasi’s wife belittles the work, Mrs Das is very complimentary about how vital his role is: without his translation, his interpreting of maladies, the patients could never be treated. And Mr Kapasi takes her kindness and encouragement as a sign that they could become long-distance friends, penpals, and perhaps more. It’s a touching story about how the significance of a relationship in one person’s mind doesn’t guarantee the same in the other person’s mind.
Lahiri’s stories are mostly calm. There are some bigger changes in people’s lives and relationships, but even these are just larger-than-usual ripples on the surface of seemingly tranquil lives, not crashing waves. Her vantages and choices of perspective are interesting and unusual, and she uses them to reveal so much about ordinary human lives. And the writing is simply beautiful, with a measured, thoughtful rhythm to the sentences that feels observational rather than overly poeticised.
This is my first Lahiri book and it surely won’t be my last. Having listened to the audiobook, I’m going to make sure to pick up a paper copy when I have the chance. Lahiri is a stunningly good writer, and I’m glad I’ve finally read her.