Título: Interpreter of Maladies
Autor: Jhumpa Lahiri
Sinopse: Mr. Kapasi, the protagonist of Jhumpa Lahiri's title story, would certainly have his work cut out for him if he were forced to interpret the maladies of all the characters in this eloquent debut collection. Take, for example, Shoba and Shukumar, the young couple in "A Temporary Matter" whose marriage is crumbling in the wake of a stillborn child. Or Miranda in "Sexy," who is involved in a hopeless affair with a married man. But Mr. Kapasi has problems enough of his own; in addition to his regular job working as an interpreter for a doctor who does not speak his patients' language, he also drives tourists to local sites of interest. His fare on this particular day is Mr. and Mrs. Das--first-generation Americans of Indian descent--and their children. During the course of the afternoon, Mr. Kapasi becomes enamored of Mrs. Das and then becomes her unwilling confidant when she reads too much into his profession. "I told you because of your talents," she informs him after divulging a startling secret. I'm tired of feeling so terrible all the time. Eight years, Mr. Kapasi, I've been in pain eight years. I was hoping you could help me feel better; say the right thing. Suggest some kind of remedy. Of course, Mr. Kapasi has no cure for what ails Mrs. Das--or himself. Lahiri's subtle, bittersweet ending is characteristic of the collection as a whole. Some of these nine tales are set in India, others in the United States, and most concern characters of Indian heritage. Yet the situations Lahiri's people face, from unhappy marriages to civil war, transcend ethnicity. As the narrator of the last story, "The Third and Final Continent," comments: "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 that single line Jhumpa Lahiri sums up a universal experience, one that applies to all who have grown up, left home, fallen in or out of love, and, above all, experienced what it means to be a foreigner, even within one's own family.
Contexto da obra
Quando a classificação é mais ampla, o contexto do livro costuma depender ainda mais de autoria, tema e edição. “Interpreter of Maladies”, de Jhumpa Lahiri, publicado pela editora Mariner Books, em 1999 e com 208 páginas, integra a categoria Livros Variados. Por isso, autoria, edição e tema acabam tendo ainda mais peso na forma de apresentar o livro.
Editora: Mariner Books
Páginas: 208
Ano: 1999
Edição:
Linguagem: inglês
ISBN: 0618101365
ISBN13: 9780618101368
Sobre a editora
Os livros da editora Mariner Books oferecem uma experiência de leitura que transita entre narrativas literárias e obras de não ficção que exploram temas históricos, científicos e culturais com profundidade e clareza. O catálogo apresenta desde ficções ambientadas em contextos históricos ricos, como investigações medievais e relatos da Primeira Guerra Mundial, até análises contemporâneas sobre ciência e sociedade, sempre com um tom que equilibra rigor e acessibilidade. Há obras que combinam suspense e humor, assim como textos que abordam questões complexas da mente humana e da memória, sugerindo uma preferência editorial por títulos que desafiam o leitor a refletir sem abrir mão do entretenimento.
