Interpreter of Maladies (#20)

It seems as if I haven't done a "real" book post in awhile... sure there was that 3-book catch-up post... but before that we have to go back all the way to July, and then even that one wasn't very exciting - which seems to be the theme of this year's reading - not very exciting... so not sure what's going on!?!

So that doesn't set things up very well for this next book... but no worries, I did like Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri... even though it had a lot of things working against it... but again, no fault of the book or author.

This was the unlucky book that I brought with me to Beijing. I knew I wasn't going to have a lot of time to read while we were there (and I didn't!), so when I was trying to figure out which book to take, a collection of short stories seemed to make perfect sense since I didn't have worry about following any plot beyond a couple of dozen pages at most.  What didn't work in its favor was that it didn't get the attention it likely deserved since I was reading it while captive on a 12+ hour plane trip or reeling from jetlag when I finished it when we got back.   

Lahiri has a unique perspective as she is of Indian ancestry but was born in London and currently lives in the United States... and her "specialty" is capturing that "fish out of water"/struggle between old and new of being a first-generation American... though there are stories that are solely set in India.  Having read another of Lahiri's works (more on that in a bit), I was expecting this to be a bit more straight-forward - but was pleasantly surprised by the "keeping secrets" theme that was explored in a few stories... and also by the humor - a young couple constantly stumbling up Christian paraphernalia oddly left behind in the house they've moved into ... or an ancient landlady forcing her young boarder to enthusiastically exclaim "Splendid!" when she tells him about Americans landing on the moon (on nearly a daily basis).   

So there was a lot of good stuff... but (I suspect you knew that was coming), I wasn't totally blown out of the water by it.  Again, I suspect some blame lies in that the book got the attention span shaft... and it also was probably crushed a bit my high expectations as it won the Pulitzer and was recently listed as one of the best books of the last 25 years by Entertainment Weekly (among many other honors).  And while this was Lahiri's publishing debut, as I mentioned I had read something by Lahiri prior to this - her first novel, The Namesake.   I had such a love for that book - naming it one of my best books of last year - that I think a sophomore slump also played a factor ... again I know Maladies was her first book, but this seems to be a trend of mine when I read a second book by an author that I loved the first time around.  And (!!), I should also note that I am not the biggest fan of the short story genre... so as I keep saying, this book had a lot going against it... so the fact that I liked it as much as I did (and I did!), is saying something.

I'll get back to posting my reading challenge "stats" with the next book... but I will mention that the Beijing trip, to no surprise, put the nail in the proverbial coffin for this year's 1-2-3-4-5 reading challenge (that's reading 12,345 pages in 2008).  Somewhat amazingly, I still managed to squeeze out 535 pages in the month of August and over just 15 "reading days" - and having to keep a 1,000+ page/month pace to reach that goal - a month like that isn't gonna cut it.   

That said, I will always take/choose going to some place like China instead of reading about it in bed or the recliner any day!  The goal is just something fun to shoot for - and when I made it, little did I know what the year ahead would bring - so that is kind of a fun take on it as well... you never know where life is going to take you (sometimes quite literally!!).