Interpreter of Maladies

Because change is inevitable...and nobody knows what the heck to do about it.

With these nine short stories, Jhumpa Lahiri opened a window onto the experiences of Indian families dealing with a rapidly transforming world—be they living in Calcutta or Cambridge, Massachusetts. The author's details about this specific culture were so precise and evocative, and yet her insights into family dynamics, homesickness and the ways we grapple with shifting circumstances resonated with us all. The first of these elegant stories opens: "The notice informed them that it was a temporary matter..." And therein lies the dilemma of all of our lives.

— Dawn Raffel