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 culture 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. She is an important and powerful new voice.
*I never read books with several short stories, preferring instead novels, but since I had read The Namesake by this author and also since the book had won the Pulitzer Price, I decided to take a chance and read it. If I could give it a 10 instead of a 5/5, I would! I loved these short stories and will definitely read it again some day. I became entranced with each new story, loving the characters, the story lines and learning so much about India's culture and natives. Absolutely wonderful is all that I can say, the type of book that makes one want to stop the first person you see and say "Read this!"
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