A Temporary Matter

Though I completed Jhumpa Lahiri's Pulitzer Prize winning collection of short stories Interpreter of Maladies over a week ago, I haven't had the guts to begin writing about the pieces until today. It isn't for a lack of response rather I was too moved, too emotionally impacted (and it caught me off guard.) As told through husband Shukumar's voice, "A Temporary Matter" dissects his dying marriage with wife Shoba after the loss of their expected child. My mind readily assigned their falter to the tragedy of this still-birth but as I read on, their impending dissent into depression and fission seemed there all along. There were no bells and whistles or heights of drama in the revelation of their loneliness which affected me more so than if Lahiri had written them to be explosive. Shoba slowly "lets herself go" and Shukumar makes an outlet for himself in domesticity, taking over Shoba's role. Lahiri illustrates Shoba's apathy in describing her typically orderly and abundant pantry as sparse and neglected. The way she carried herself is sloppier, less manicured than she once was. All of this is subtly explained away by memories of Shukumar's own Mother's mournful and odd behavior after the loss of his Father. The Doctor reasons the hormonal and psychological meaning behind Shoba's behavior. As a female reading these details it became almost immediately clear to me that Shoba wasn't sinking in sorrow for a lost child alone but hopeless after the loss of what might have kept her interested in her husband. The baby was gone and she was too. How poignant and honest.

The nuances of their relationship (if nuances can be) are the star of the story. Lahiri is an observer and clearly a writer who dwells in the murky and moody realms of truth. She is subtle and illuminates gradually the depths of her characters through their relationships with insight into their inner reasonings. In this collection these reasonings are sometimes logical and other times delusional. That is what makes the work completely identifiable. I give it a 10 out of 10. Extraordinary.