Discussion Questions: Interpreter of Maladies

Below are some discussion questions I pulled from ReadingGroupGuides.com for this month's book, Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri. We'll be using these questions in our meeting, so you may want to look them over ahead of time.

1. What kinds of marriage are presented in the stories? One reviewer has written that Lahiri's "subject is not love's failure, ... but the opportunity that an artful spouse (like an artful writer) can make of failure ... " Do you agree or disagree with that assessment?
2. Lahiri has said, "As a storyteller, I'm aware that there are limitations in communication." What importance in the stories do miscommunication and unexpressed feelings have?
3. In "When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine," what does the ten-year-old Lilia learn about the differences between life in suburban America and life in less stable parts of the world? What does she learn about the personal consequences of those differences?
4. For Mrs. Sen, "Everything is there" (that is, in India). What instances are there in these stories of exile, estrangement, displacement, and marginality—both emotional, and cultural?
5. What characterizes the sense of community in both the stories set in India and stories set in the U.S.? What maintains that sense, and what disrupts it?
6. Another reviewer has written, "Food in these stories is a talisman, a reassuring bit of the homeland to cling to." How do food and meal preparation maintain links to the characters’ homelands? What other talismans—items of clothing, for example—act as "reassuring bits of the homeland"?
7. The narrator of "The Third and Final Continent" ends his account with the statement, "Still, there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept." In what ways are Lahiri’s characters bewildered?
8. What are the roles and significance of routine and ritual in the stories? What are the rewards and drawbacks of maintaining long-established routines and ritual?
9. In "Interpreter of Maladies," Mr. Kapasi finds it hard to believe of Mr. and Mrs. Das that "they were regularly responsible for anything other than themselves." What instances of selfishness or self-centeredness do you find in these stories?
10. In "Interpreter of Maladies," visitors to Konarak find the Chandrabhaga River dried up, and they can no longer enter the Temple of the Sun, "for it had filled with rubble long ago ..." What other instances and images does Lahiri present of the collapse, deterioration, or passing of once-important cultural or spiritual values?
11. What does Mrs. Sen mean when, looking at the traffic that makes "her English falter," she says to Eliot, "Everyone, this people, too much in their world"? What circumstances of life in both America and India account for people being "too much in their world"?
12. Rather than leave his weekly rent on the piano, the narrator of "The Third and Final Continent" hands it to Mrs. Croft. What similar small acts of kindness, courtesy, concern, or compassion make a difference in people's lives?

Azar Nafisi Interview Online

Joan forwarded me this link to an interview published today in The Washington Post where Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, talks about her upcoming book, Things I've Kept Silent About. This new book is an exploration of her childhood and, according to the interview, sheds light on the experiences she relates in Reading Lolita in Tehran.

If you recall, we read her Lolita book in January of 2008 - our recap is here. I reviewed it on this blog as well.

I found this new interview - and the premise of the upcoming book - to be very interesting. What do you think about it?

Winter 2009 Meeting Schedule

Due to schedule conflicts we made an adjustment to our meeting schedule for early 2009. Here is the revised schedule for your reference.

Monday, January 26

Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri

nominated by Melissa

at Lenore's house in Annapolis

Saturday, February 28

Change of Heart, by Jodi Picoult

nominated by Kara

at Beth's house in Annapolis

Thusday, March 26

The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver

nominated by Bev

at Cyndi's house in Linthicum

Happy reading to you all!

Another Guest Post

My recap of our Christmas Party and Book Swap is up over at ReadingGroupGuides.com. You can check it out by clicking this link then scrolling to the post dated Jan. 5, 2009. Enjoy!

Christmas Party Recap

On Sunday we had our annual Christmas Party complete with good food, good friends, and lots of books!

For this meeting everyone got to read a book of her choice. Most of our discussion took the form of Book Reports. Here's a list of who read what and what they rated the books.

• Beth: Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley - 9


• Nancy: Skipping Christmas, by John Grisham - 8


• Melissa: Official Guide to Christmas in the South (or If You Can't Fry It, Spray Paint It Gold), by David. C. Barnette - 8


• Cyndi: The Christmas Promise, by Donna Vanliere - 5, but a good 5


• Jessica: The Paper Bag Christmas, by Kevin Alan Milne - 8


• Carrie Ann: Holidays on Ice, by David Sedaris - 8


• Cynthia: Run, by Ann Patchett - 9
  (Cynthia is Jessica's mom - she was visiting with us for this meeting)


• Amy: The Dog Who Saved Christmas, by Alan Sullo - 5, but a cute book


• Heather: The Cole Family Christmas, by Jennifer Bryan & Hazel Kendle - 8
  (I reviewed this on my blog)


• Nicole: The Red Tent, by Anita Diamante - 8

After the book reports, we did our Book Exchange. It was lots of fun! There wasn't all that much stealing going on but ONE book did get stolen several times: The Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao.

A big thank you to Jessica for hosting our Christmas Party!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's a list of upcoming meeting dates:

Monday, Jan. 26th - location TBD

"Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri

Saturday, Feb. 28th @ 1pm - Beth's house

"Change of Heart" by Jodi Picoult

Monday, Feb. 23rd - Cyndi's house

"The Bean Trees" by Barbara Kingsolver

Books for 2009 (January - March)

At our last meeting we voted on the books we'd like to read over the next few months. Here's what we decided on:

January

Interpreter of Maladies

by Jhumpa Lahiri

nominated by Melissa

February

Change of Heart

by Jodi Picoult

nominated by Kara

March

The Bean Trees

by Barbara Kingsolver

nominated by Bev

We'll be setting meeting dates at our Christmas party on 12/21 so please remember to bring your calendar. And feel free to read ahead if you want to!

Christmas Book Swap: The Rules

In preparation for our upcoming Christmas Party, I give you ...

Rules for SdelleS Christmas Book Swap

Each gal should bring a new or gently used book to swap. Books must be wrapped or bagged so that no one can tell what is inside.

Playing the Game:

• All wrapped gifts are put in the center of the room.
• The gals draw numbers from a hat to determine the order in which we pick gifts.
• Gal #1 chooses a gift from the center and opens it, and shows it to everyone. That is the end of her turn ... for now.
• Gal #2 chooses a gift from the center, opens it, and shows it to everyone. She may then swap her current gift with Gal #1 or keep the gift she has.
• Gal #3 chooses a new gift, opens it, and shows it to everyone. Gal #3 may either keep the gift she opened or swap it for another Gal's opened gift.
• We continue like this until each person has a gift.
• Gal #1 may then swap her gift with any other gal.
• That’s the end of the game!

Note: There is no limit to the number of times a gift can be “stolen” ... good luck!