Interpreter of Maladies - Penerjemah Luka by Jhumpa Lahiri

Being isolated in loneliness doesn’t seem to harass them enough, and they still have to do what any immigrant should do: fitting themselves to the puzzle. Sen’s and The Third and Final Continent, forcing them to develop a new habit and cope with social and environmental challenges that are so strange to them. Depression and alienation are what poisonous to the immigrants in Mrs. But loneliness can come in any form, bringing with it toxic feelings we cannot run away from. Here Lahiri conveys how loneliness can secretly sneak its way through people’s hearts and make them craving for something that results in others being treated unfairly. Craving for love and attention, Miranda doesn’t have even the slightest hesitation to develop a relationship with a man who is already married. It shows the reader the contrast between a woman whose husband is having an affair with another woman and a woman with whom a man is having an affair. The question of love is also present in the story entitled Sexy. Later on, he finds out that Shoba shares the same feeling for all this time. But beyond that, he cannot help but to admit, though only to himself, that he has lost his love for her far before that happens. The way Shukumar, the husband, describes it, his wife Shoba seems to be the one who becomes so distant after her pregnancy ends in miscarriage.

They have not talked to each other for months and let silence invade their previously-full-of-passion home. In A Temporary Matter, the reader is presented with a married couple who seem to regret deeply the loss of their baby.

However, I won’t deny this, only four of them really captivated me, holding me hostage all through the few pages. The book consists of nine short stories, all of them are pretty well narrated. I wouldn’t say that Interpreter of Maladies is a masterpiece, but it is a showcase for her literary ability to capture and transfer a seemingly belittled problem, which is truthfully never unreal in anyone’s life, into words. And Lahiri can cleverly describe those feelings through characters and simple narratives. It is not wrong, I should say, to think loneliness and alienation as maladies, for the two things are indeed what’s gnawing at us most. How does loneliness affect you? How will you deal with it? Can you interpret it? Jhumpa Lahiri, in her own way, has done it in Interpreter of Maladies, a Pulitzer Prize-winning short story collection revealing several different embodiments of loneliness, and of alienation.

Interpreter of Maladies - Penerjemah Luka by Jhumpa Lahiri