I had been told that Lahiri was a master of the short story, but I’d never read any of her work. When I picked up Interpreter after that long string of failed collections, I expected nothing more than to flip through the first few pages of the first few stories before discarding the book. No. From the first paragraph, I was hooked. I loved the prose, I loved the juxtaposition between Indian and American culture (both in India and in America), and most of all, I loved that I didn’t always start out liking the characters, but I usually came to understand them at the end of each story. My favorites were “A Temporary Matter” and, slightly less favorite, “Mrs. Sen’s.” The only one I didn’t particularly care for was the second to last in the collection, “The Treatment of Bibi Haldar.”

Unlike with many of the short stories I read or tried to read in other collections, these felt like whole, complete pieces, rather than like scenes or like they ought to be unpacked for novel-length. They were beautiful. I’m really glad I gave them a chance, especially after so many failed attempts at collections!