Interpreter of Maladies: an audio review

Interpreter of Maladies

by Jhumpa Lahiri

Narrated by Matilda Novak

HighBridge Audio

6 hours 19 minutes

I primarily listen to audiobooks when I'm alone in the car, but with sixteen year old twins learning to drive this summer, there has been very little of that! I listened to Interpreter of Maladies back in May, and hadn't even attempted to start another until a few days ago (Little Bee by Chris Cleave). However, I didn't want fall to begin without at least mentioning this book.

Interpreter of Maladies, published in 1999, is a collection of nine short stories that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000. I chose to listen because it was offered in a 3-for-2 promotion at audible.com, and I was so taken with Lahiri's more recent collection, Unaccustomed Earth.

The stories are set in India or the US and, again, involve characters of Indian descent. Lahiri packs so much emotion and feeling into each story. In "A Temporary Matter", an especially poignant story, we observe a young couple whose marriage is disintegrating after the birth of a still born child.

"When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine" is told through they eyes of a young girl. It spotlights a Pakistani man in the US, a frequent dinner guest in her household, who watches a civil war unfold, night after night, on her living room television while his wife and seven daughters remain at home in Pakistan.

The title story, "Interpreter of Maladies", is set in India. Mr Kapasi works as a translator for a doctor who is unable speak the language of some of his patients. He supplements his income by acting as a driver for tourists. One day, he develops an 'interest' in a young American woman of Indian descent traveling with her husband and three children. As he imagines their relationship, she misunderstands his primary job and begins to confide her unhappiness to him. A very touching story...

The reader did a very good job in this production, however I did find some of the musical interludes annoying. Overall, I was impressed with Lahiri's writing and enjoyed listening to this collection. However, I liked Unaccustomed Earth even better.

TSS: Where am I going, where have I been?

Good morning! It's Labor Day Weekend here in the US, a long holiday weekend marking the end of summer, and traditionally, a time for me to access the road ahead.

Daughter #1 has gone back to college, Twin B starts school on Tuesday, and Twin A begins next week. Book club starts again up after a summer hiatus, community organizations begin their new season, and it's time for me to take a look at my reading.

Every summer I resolve to read a lot more and, year after year, the opposite usually occurs. The girls are home, activities are planned, and I'm rarely in the car alone (so no audiobooks, either!). This summer, I purposely chose lighter books and enjoyed each one of them!

Molly's Summer Vacation Reading Challenge was the highlight of my summer reading. The Enchanted April, A Thousand Days in Venice, and That Old Cape Magic made for the best summer reading ever! The wrap-up post with links to reviews is here.

Now... on to fall! It's time to concentrate on challenges. The Classics Challenge ends October 31 and I have two books left to read. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell will be next, but I may join Carl's RIP IV Challenge and use The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins or We Have Always Lived In the Castle by Shirley Jackson for both!

Next is the Everything Austen Challenge that runs through January. There are four activities left to complete, but I've got about forty that I'll be choosing from! Most likely will be rereads of Pride & Prejudice (the annotated version this time around) and Northanger Abbey (this would also work with the RIP challenge), Jane Austen: A Life by Claire Tomalin, and a movie adaptation or two.

There's plenty of time left for Bellezza's Japanese Literature 3 Challenge, but I'm anxious to get started! After Dark by Haruki Murakami is where I'll begin.

A few odd and ends need to be tied up for the 2009 mini-challenges, but my Year of Reading Dangerously Challenge is not going well. I'll need to concentrate on that one if I want to complete it.

Sorry for the challenge ramble, but writing does help me think and get organized. This morning, I'll be taking my coffee outside and reading Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple. A polar fleece jacket will be needed - it feels like fall! I'm halfway through this 400+ page Persephone Classic (it just occurred to me that this could count for the classics challenge!) and am loving it.

I wish I could sit and read Dorothy Whipple all afternoon, but I've promised to take my daughters and my sister's German exchange student to the mall. Later, everyone will gather here for dinner, so I'll have to be content with the hour or two I have right now.

Are you participating in challenges and wondering if you can complete them all? What will you be reading today?

Summer Vacation Reading Challenge - Completed!

Just as the Labor Day holiday weekend began, I posted the final review for Molly's Summer Vacation Reading Challenge. Three books were required at the beach bum level, and I couldn't have enjoyed them more!

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim - reviewed here

A Thousand Days in Venice by Marlena De Blasi - reviewed here

That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo - reviewed here

The first two titles provided a 'virtual vacation' to Italy. The Enchanted April took me to San Salvatore in the hills of Tuscany. There I was treated to the magic of springtime in Italy... and found that I just couldn't leave!

Original 'travel plans' included stops in Paris (Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnick) and London (Imagined London by Anna Quindlen) but, since the itinerary was flexible, I decided to stay in Italy with One Thousand Days in Venice. This non-fiction gem gave a sense of place like I have never experienced! I loved my 'virtual trip' to Italy and have already started saving for the real thing.

On the journey home, I stopped for a layover in Cape Cod to catch up with a favorite author. Richard Russo's latest book was released and it had to be read - immediately! That Old Cape Magic was the perfect way to wrap up my summer reading and this challenge.

Thank you Molly, for hosting such a fun, low-pressure summer reading adventure!

That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo

That Old Cape Magic

by Richard Russo

Alfred A. Knopf, 2009

261 pages

To borrow an expression from my kids, Richard Russo rocks! Back in 2002, I picked up a copy of Empire Falls and instantly became fan, recommending the book to anyone who would listen. Straight Man and Bridge of Sighs only reinforced that enthusiasm so, of course, I was at the bookstore within days (well, maybe hours) of That Old Cape Magic's release.

In his latest book, Russo treats us to some of the familiar themes and character types he has done so well in his previous books. Two weddings, a year apart, serve as the framework for That Old Cape Magic. Jack Griffin, a screenwriter/professor in his late 50's, is struggling to come to terms with his life, his marriage, and the role parental influence has played.

"Late middle age, he was coming to understand, was a time of life when everything was predictable and yet somehow you failed to see any of it coming."

Jack's Ivy-pedigreed parents spent their careers as frustrated professors, languishing at second-rate colleges in the Midwest. They lived for their annual summer escape to Cape Cod and found "That Old Cape Magic" was enough to sustain them for another year:

"After dinner, as darkness fell, they took a long drive with no particular destination in mind, as they sometimes did their last night on the Cape, breathing it all in, filling their lungs with the salt air, as if they could carry it back with them to breath in the Mid-fucking-west." (page 62)

Jack, as his own marriage begins to unravel, realizes that "even as he rejected their [his parents] values, he'd allowed many of their bedrock assumptions - that happiness is a place you could visit but never own, for instance - to burrow deep. He'd dismissed their snobbery and unearned sense of entitlement, but swallowed whole the rationale on which it had been based... Joy's [his wife] contention that his parents, not hers, were the true intruders on their marriage had seemed ludicrous on the face of it, but he saw now that it was true. They were mucking about still, his living mother, exiled in the Mid-fucking-west (justice, that) but using seagulls as surrogates, his deceased father, reduced to ashes and bits of bone, still refusing to take his leave." (page 158)

There is always a soft spot that develops in my heart as I read about Russo's flawed male characters. I spent one of the most enjoyable afternoons of the summer sitting in an Adirondack chair by the lake reading the first half of this book. My plan was to finish it the following day, but one weekend wasn't enough time to spend with Jack, Joy, their daughter, and parents. This was a book to be savored, and I slowed down to make it last several more days.

Russo get his characters right every time. Their vulnerability, tempered with just the right amount of bravado, makes them wonderfully believable and, flawed as they are, they manage to muddle through. That Old Cape Magic couldn't have been better!

Wordless Wednesday- September 2

sculptures outside Canyon Road galleries - Santa Fe

Teaser Tuesday - September 1

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Here's how it works:

-grab your current read

-open to a random page

-share two teaser sentences from somewhere on the page (avoid spoilers!)

-be sure to include the title and author so other TT participants can add the book to their tbr list if they like your teaser

-leave a comment with your link at Should Be Reading

"When she recovered from the first shock of hearing what her mother had arranged for her, she decided that she could not miss this unique opportunity of satisfying her curiosity and embarrassing Paul. And how she would embarrass him by appearing in his house. How uneasy he must be already at the prospect! She was filled with savage pleasure at the thought of it..." (page 96)

Someone at a Distance

by Dorothy Whipple

And the winner is...

Staci from Life in the Thumb

Congratulations, Staci! My husband just pulled your name from the hat. Send me your address and Two Guys Read Jane Austen will be on its way. Thanks to all who entered my first giveaway.