Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Navigating between the Indian traditions they've inherited and the baffling new world, the characters in Jhumpa Lahiri's elegant, touching stories seek love beyond the barriers of cultures and generations.
In A Temporary Matter, published in the New Yorker, a young Indian-American couple faces the heartbreak of a stillborn birth, while their Boston neighborhood copes with a nightly blackout. In the title story, an interpreter guides an American family through the India of their ancestors and hears an astonishing confession.
Lahiri writes with deft cultural insight reminiscent of Anita Desai and a nuanced depth that recalls Mavis Gallant.
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"I really enjoyed this work as a break from all the experimental stuff I read. Lahiri captures the Indian culture in a way that is accessible to people who long for culture but don't really have a sense of it (like me, who has never been on a plane). The relationships between women and men (arranged marriages usually) were interesting; men who put up with flighty women, women who fall in love with married men, couples married after a few days together who aren't sure if they'll like each other but learn to fall in love. I was really excited about this book because my new friend is a progressive woman from India (funny enough, she's married to a man from Tennessee) and I wanted more insight into the culture. Lahiri provides that in a way that digs into another's life rather than pouring in as many facts in a conspicuous fashion."
— Melanie (4 out of 5 stars)
" Very intriguing stories which CAN be re-read. "
— Chandani, 2/8/2014" It was an okay book of short stories that I read for my Postmodern literature class. "
— Jana, 1/28/2014" I wanted to like this book more than I did. That being said, I did enjoy the last few stories more than the first ones. And is it weird that my favorite parts of this book were the detailed descriptions of the Indian food they cooked at some point in every story? It sounded so delicious! "
— Afton, 1/25/2014" Devoured it, although I shouldn't be surprised that I enjoyed a book by Lahiri so much. Her stories are so engaging and heartbreaking with a realism that continually intrigues me. "
— Cherylin, 1/24/2014" A beautiful expression of short stories about being a first-generation Indian in America. "
— Nikkiharsh, 1/21/2014" I thought this book bespoke magic and longing in equal measure "
— Erika, 1/20/2014" The stories stay with you; they are powerful personal anecdotes, and you feel like you have heard them from close friends. Beautiful storytelling. "
— Meghan, 1/16/2014" A beautiful collection. The title story is especially complex and arresting. "
— Tricia, 1/13/2014" disappointing. finished reading it years after i started and was saddened to realize how much i'd changed in the interim; the stories seemed less lush, more trivial, less realistic, more trite. c'est triste. "
— carolime, 1/11/2014" Beautifully written, made me tear up. "
— Ariel, 12/17/2013Jhumpa Lahiri is a London-born American author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction who has won more than a dozen awards and medals, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her debut short-story collection, Interpreter of Maladies. Among her other honors are the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, the Premio Gregor von Rezzori, the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, the Premio Internazionale Viareggio-Versilia, the Addison Metcalf Award, and a National Humanities Medal. She is a professor of creative writing at Princeton University.
Matilda Novak has been involved in nearly every facet of voice-over for twenty-five years. She is honored to be one of those for whom professional audiobook narration began under the direction of Bob Deyan. She grew up in a trilingual household and enjoys using accents in her work. A trained actor, she holds a masters degree in communication from Regent University and has been a member of the Actor’s Co-op Theater Company in Hollywood.