Read this when
Interpreter of Maladies
A couple who stopped talking after losing their baby start telling the truth only when the power goes out. Sometimes the dark is easier. 🕯️
Who it's for
Each story catches someone at a moment of quiet isolation: a couple after a stillbirth, a housebound immigrant wife, a tour guide who translates patients' symptoms and longs to be understood himself.
Lonely→Understood
Feelings it meets
What it is
Interpreter of Maladies is Jhumpa Lahiri's 1999 collection of nine short stories, which won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Where to find it
In print; widely available from libraries (Libby/Hoopla) and as an audiobook. Not public domain in the US. Won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Before you start
Heads up: Stillbirth and implied sexual exploitation.
Age: Ages 14+
I'm Nobody! Who are you? Are you – Nobody – too?Emily Dickinson, “I'm Nobody! Who are you?” (poem 260)
