BY AARTI MONTEIRO

An interpreter of maladies isn’t a doctor prescribing medicine to cure a disease. She is someone who speaks the language of the patient, communicating what he or she cannot say. In the title story of Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies, a collection of short stories, Mr. Kapasi listens to Mrs. Das’ marital problems. He does not judge her or give advice. He merely listens and understands what she needs. Lahiri tells her characters’ stories in an honest way. She communicates for them so that the reader can listen and understand.

At the core, the short stories in Interpreter of Maladies are about people, about how much we hold back from the people we love. The stories have a protagonist who feels lost. Each story stands alone. It does not need the others to support its spirit. But together the collection is tied with the thread of identity. Lahiri creates both the immigrant’s experience and that of the native. The characters are caught between two worlds. They feel alone, unable to communicate with each other and often with themselves. It is easy to relate to these moving stories if you’ve ever felt set apart from something or someone.

The collection begins with “A Temporary Matter,” a story about a broken marriage. A husband and wife, a few months after the stillbirth of their only child, are forced to sit and eat together every night by candlelight because the electricity on their street is being repaired. Usually eating dinner in separate rooms, Shoba and Shukumar don’t know how to hold a conversation. The five-day power shortage forces them to confront one another and their marriage. Each night they talk softly, sharing things they have always kept secret. These conversations are the most honest they have ever had and allow Shoba and Shukumar to understand the reality of their relationship. While the story is short, the characters are well developed and easily understood because they are human. You feel deep sympathy for their shortcomings because you know how honest they are.

“When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine,” another of the stories, is narrated by Lilia, a ten-year-old Indian girl. Mr. Pirzada goes to Lilia’s family’s home, just north of Boston, every evening for dinner to watch the news with her parents. On each visit, he brings Lilia chocolate. There is a civil war in Pakistan and his family is living in Dacca, then a part of Pakistan. At school, Lilia learns only about the history of the United States, nothing about current events in South Asia. Watching some of the fighting on television with her parents and Mr. Pirzada, she becomes curious about the war and is scared for Mr. Pirzada’s family. She researches in the library about the war and listens to her parents’ conversations. She prays for Mr. Pirzada’s daughters every day while eating his chocolates. Lilia’s innocent lens gives the story a unique and interesting angle.

Interpreter of Maladies is a collection of stories that break down human relationships. They tell about these characters’ lives without judgment. The stories don’t all have happy endings; they aren’t fairytales. They touch on the simple truth that everyone is real. Lahiri touches on human flaws. She explores the way people interact and their struggle to feel at home.