I just read - A Temporary Matter - the first story in Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. Strange, how a man and wife need darkness to help strike the same level of intimacy, love and affection, they once shared. Strange, but true. Very often it’s a problem or darkness that unites people. A scheduled power cut encourages a couple – Shoba and Shukumar to talk (initially, just to kill time, the duo starts playing a game similar to the truth and dare we played in college) but that later gets them not only arouse the physical fondness for each other, but also gets them breaking the ice and talking about the biggest sorrow they encountered a few months back (Shoba delivering a stillborn child). It is this darkness that gets them together, saves their marriage from breaking and brings the marital bliss back in their lives.
I love Lahiri’s detailing, the way Shukumar simply admires the way Shoba has done the kitchen or the way Shukumar looks for the candle in the kitchen cabinet. Also, I loved her choice of words, concentrating on the emotions and putting everything so simply, while the reader can imagine, identify with or even befriend the lovely couple.
3 comments:
I feel like reading the book already! Nice brief way of putting things... moreover looks like a review written by an experienced person!
Nice review, Dippy. I'd read the book long back and after reading your post feel like going back to the book again. :)
Been quite some time since you last wrote. The TP anniv is over so u hve no more excuses, girl. Write something!
I have read her.Nice book.
stories that are a reflection of the flip side of our community /society.
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