Finished "Interpreter of Maladies" today. Considering the fact that it has only 9 stories, it should have been a one day affair but I never managed to take out that one day. Instead I read it 1-2 stories a day after every 3-4 days. Now that I finally finished it with a marathon of 4 stories today, I think I enjoyed it much more by reading in parts, taking time to reflect on the stories as I read them.

So the next obvious thing: the best story on the collection. Well I'll rather not chose one best but I liked "Temporary Measure", "Interpreter of Maladies", "Sexy" and "Third and the Last Continent".

A very striking feature of the stories is that they are very rich in details. Unlike Arundhati Roy, whose plush language is a treat to read, or just behold for that matter, Jhumpa is all about details. Specially the details about food !! I could almost taste it in my mouth. And think about my plight when I had to go and eat mess food after that. But anything for a good story :)

Next on hand: well I was hoping to get "Namesake" but couldn't find it. So I instead chose "Jindagi Muskurayi" by Kanahayia lal Mishra "Prabhakar". It contains what are called "sansmaranatmak nibandh (essays)". We studied lots of similar stuff in our school days and I really liked it. So I am really looking forward to this one.

Comments

Anonymous said…
You can also check out "Fasting Feasting" by Anita Desai. It is a delight to read.

-vk
June 17, 2004 at 11:11 AM
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