[(review date spring 2000) In the following review, Noor praises The Interpreter of Maladies not only for exploring the experiences of immigrants, but also for considering larger human issues.]
Born in England of Indian parents and raised in America, Jhumpa Lahiri has evidently benefited from all three cultures. Their aroma drifts from the pages of her first collection of short fiction, titled Interpreter of Maladies, where she has woven their idiosyncrasies into well-crafted stories with a keen eye for observation and an admirable gift for details. Eight of the nine stories have been previously published, in slightly different form, in various literary and nonliterary journals across the nation. They not only study the experiences of immigrants but also deal with perennial universal issues.
The title story, "Interpreter of Maladies," is about a young couple named Mr. and Mrs. Das, by birth American, who go to India with their three children to visit...