A short story a day keeps boredom away and makes you genius.

✿ Day 1 :-Temporary matter - 3.25 stars
pretty mediocre in my opinion but it's my first time reading Lahiri books and she has a flair for words.

✿ Day 2 :- When Mr. Pirzada came for dinner - 4 stars
well well well that was sad and sweet.
Ps:- I like smart kids.

✿ Day 3 :- Interpreter of maladies - 4.25 stars
it was literal until it transcended to sophisticated level

✿ Day 4 :- The real durwan - 3.75 stars
poignant and left me with a question "what could have happened next?"

✿ Day 5 :- Sexy - 2 stars
it was flat for me compared to other stories that I have read!

✿ Day 6:- Mrs. Sen - 2.75 stars
all bout attire and cooking, I don't mind but its like repititive

✿ Day 7:- The blessed house- 2.5 stars
started really great but then went downhill and the ending ruined it all

✿ Day 8:- Treatment of Bibi Halder - 3.5 stars
pretty intriguing and interesting, every Indian can relate

✿ Day 9:- The third and final continent - 3 stars
a perfect end to the book

Overall = 3.2 stars ~ 3 stars

خیلی کتاب خوبی بود.
1. به نظرم مهم ترین دغدغه نویسنده در این مجموعه داستان "خانواده" است . خانواده برای انسان شرقی بسیار با اهمیت هست و در برخورد فرهنگ غربی و شرقی مهم ترین تفاوتی که خیلی بارز میشه همین تلقی های متفاوت از خانوده س. محکم میتونم بگم در همه داستانها خانواده یک بنیان مقدس داره که هندی های ساکن آمریکا سعی میکنن با همون تعریف شرقی حفظش کنن.
2. داستان نویسی زنانه را باید با همین جزئیات فراوان و پیرنگ های ساده و نسبتا سرراست و بی پیرایه و تقریبا شل و ول پذیرفت. ولی خیلی وقت ها مخاطبان عام هم اصلا به دنبال حوادث و وقایع عجیب غریب و معماگونه نیستند. همین حس عاطفی و روایت سرراست و جزئی نگر درگیرشون میکنه.
3. مثل خیلی جوایز غربی که به شرقی ها داده میشه جایزه پولیتزر هم برای خانم لاهیری حاشیه داشته و به مذاق خیلی از هندی ها خوش نیومده که در متن سخنرانی در پایان کتاب بهش اشاره میشه. من با این که از کتاب خوشم اومد میخوام اینجا طرف ناراضی ها را بگیرم. اگر مردم و نویسندگان هندی به این کتاب نقد داشته باشند حتما ضعف داره. در ژاپن خیلی ها به موراکامی نقد دارند ولی کسی صدای اونها را نشنیده. نویسنده های مهاجر را به هیچ عنوان نباید نماینده ادبیات اون کشور دونست.

5★
“ ‘But what does she learn about the world?’ My father rattled the cashew can in his hand. ‘What is she learning?’

We learned American history, of course, and American geography.”

These wonderful stories are about Indians, often living as expats in other countries, standing out or blending in with other cultures. The author was born in London to Bengali parents, and the family moved to America, where she was raised.

Her representations of the various cultural experiences cover everything from simple family rituals to arguments over traditions and assimilation. A family is still a family, a love story is still a love story, and grief causes the same heartache no matter who or where you are.

I’m quoting from only the second story, “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine”. I don’t have a favourite – they’re all terrific – but I do have a soft spot for Mr. Pirzada who was caught up in the complicated politics of Partition.

It is 1971. Lilia is the ten-year-old daughter of Indian parents, living at an American university where they befriend many other Indians. Mr Pirzada became a special visitor, always bringing her a little treat. He missed his wife and several daughters still living back home in Dacca, then East Pakistan, where war was raging. They scour the evening news for reports from Dacca.

Until one night.

“ ‘Mr. Pirzada won’t be coming today. More importantly, Mr. Pirzada is no longer considered Indian,’ my father announced, brushing salt from the cashews out of his trim black beard. ‘Not since Partition. Our country was divided. 1947.’”

Home for Mr Pirzada is tricky, Lilia learns. Partition split up the India that had been under Crown Rule (the British Raj) into several parcels, making up new countries. Back then, the divisions looked something like this map. It’s from Wikipedia, so I can’t vouch for the accuracy, but it’s a good enough representation for me.
[image error]
n  The partition of India: green regions were all part of Pakistan by 1948, and orange ones part of India. The darker-shaded regions represent the Punjab and Bengal provinces partitioned by the Radcliffe Line. The grey areas represent some of the key princely states that were eventually integrated into India or Pakistan.n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partiti...

Lilia describes it for Americans “as if California and Connecticut constituted a nation apart from the U.S.

My father rapped his knuckles on top of my head. ‘You are, of course, aware of the current situation? Aware of East Pakistan’s fight for sovereignty?’

I nodded, unaware of the situation.”

Of course she's unaware. She's ten, living in America, learning about George Washington. The fight for sovereignty has killed thousands. Muslims and Hindus wouldn’t think of dining together.

“It made no sense to me. Mr. Pirzada and my parents spoke the same language, laughed at the same jokes, looked more or less the same. They ate pickled mangoes with their meals, ate rice every night for supper with their hands. Like my parents, Mr. Pirzada took off his shoes before entering a room, chewed fennel seeds after meals as a digestive, drank no alcohol, for dessert dipped austere biscuits into successive cups of tea.”

But the next evening, Mr. Prizada returns, and the two men shake hands, with Mr. Prizada apologising.

“ ‘Another refugee, I am afraid, on Indian territory.’

‘They are estimating nine million at the last count,’ my father said.

Mr. Pirzada handed me his coat, for it was my job to hang it on the rack at the bottom of the stairs.”

As a ten-year-old, Lilia had to guess at the seriousness of the escalation to what is now called the Bangladesh War of Independence, because the three adults operated as one, she says, glued to the poor television news coverage and calling relatives in India for better current reports.

Today, long after Mr. Pirzada has returned to his family in Dacca, Lilia remembers him fondly and realises how much he must have been suffering, missing his wife and daughters and worrying for their safety.

The author brings readers into all of her stories almost as participants, I think. I didn’t feel ‘foreign’ as I was reading, although I certainly am. The main characters aren’t me, but I can identify with them, the sign of a good writer. She doesn’t make disparaging comments (even about American history classes). It just is what it is, and people deal with it.

Most stories aren’t as political as I’ve made this one sound, but I like it because it gives a bit of background to the millions of people whom all of her characters represent.

There are about 7.8 billion people in the world of whom about 1.8 billion live in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. That’s almost a quarter of the world. There are many different languages, but English is an accepted official language. Just a little fact I thought I’d throw in.

These are varied and thought-provoking stories about real people crossing cultural boundaries and just getting on with living their lives. No wonder the book won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize.