Interpreter of maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

The book  “Interpreter of maladies “by Jhumpa Lahiri left me with a nice, puzzled impression, which is the aim of the author – to make you think about simple and at the same time incomprehensible meaning of the life. Even though the book consists of different small stories, they are all connected together, and the last story explains more about Lahiri’s point of view on life and relationship between people. In all stories Lahiri writes about Indian people connected to the American culture. The author describes characters and events through the eyes of one character. The interesting thing is that those character usually a man. The author of the book, Indian origin, goes deep into her main character’s thoughts and feeling, revealing his, sometimes uncomfortable and frustrating, inner world. Lahiry pay a lot of attention on the most ordinary, subtle thoughts and fears, which occurs in the head of the main characters. She is bringing the unsweetened inner micro cosmoses of the  main characters, showing their  doubts and mental struggle to understand and except the world and people around them.  As I was reading the stories, I didn’t stop to be surprised and captured by the accuracy of Lahiry observation of man’s thoughts and behavior. Sometimes it was really frustrating for me  to realized that I also have similar experience in life, besides I don’t know what kind of thoughts my husband has. I noticed that the main characters usually possessed strengs, but at the same time they very weak and don’t know what love is, they see their spouse like a stranger, intruder in their life, however excepting them altogether like a necessary, inevitable event in life, similar to death or a birth. The most disappointing part in all the stories for me was an absence of any romantic feelings, passion, or attraction of characters to each other. Such attitude related to the peculiarities of Indian Culture, to the Hindu religion of acceptance and not questioning your destiny, life and circumstances.   The man, like a main character, also is the clever way to show the male dominance in Indian culture. Women’s happiness and wellbeing depends on man, and it makes man’s doubts and weaknesses loom bigger in the eyes of the reader.