Interpreter of Maladies » (Unabridged)

One of the few first-time authors to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction -- for her short-story collection, Interpreter of Maladies -- Jhumpa Lahiri has captivated fans and critics with her rich portrayals of Indian and Indian-American culture.

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.

New York - Ariel Levy

The experience of being foreign and the need for connection both mark Lahiri's outstanding debut collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies, in which intimacy is often the odd consequences of her character's admitting how distant they have become, or always were.