Finished: Interpreter of Maladies (Lahiri) Fascinating collection of short stories about people of Indian, Pakistani and Bengali cultures living in America and/or in their native countries in this Pulitzer Prize winning book by a first time author! Each story deals very poignantly with the traditions and beliefs, or lack thereof, of these people who have either moved from their native country to America and are struggling to balance their traditions with a totally different environment, or grown up in America not really knowing their cultural roots at all, or grown up in America still embracing their culture wholeheartedly. Basically, there is someone in each story who is thrown into the sphere of the main character's life, who is fascinated by that person's traditions, or beliefs, or calmness. We sometimes see the depth of the character through that outside person's eyes, but most often the story is from the viewpoint of the Indian, Pakistani or Bengali person and is extremely compelling, moving, and thought-provoking. I think I particularly liked When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine. This was the story of a man from Pakistan in 1971 who was in America at a University on a work grant, but whose wife and seven young daughters were still in Pakistan. Unfortunately, civil war breaks out in his country. Because he lives in a dorm room at the university where he works, he has no way of cooking and very little access to television news. We meet ten year old Lilia, whose parents are from India and are teachers at the same university. Lilia's parents invite Mr. Pirzada to their home every single night for dinner and to watch the evening news, as he hopes to catch a glimpse of what has become of his wife and children. Mr. Pirzada is in America for a year before he does finally receive a letter from home telling him that his wife and daughters are safe. He returns to them, and though they grew close, Lilia never sees him again. What was very eye-opening about this story was that Lilia was learning all about the America Revolution in school, and knew nothing of any civil wars or history of her own culture. She even tried looking at a book about Indian history one day in the library and her teacher scolded her and told her to stick to her book report topic about the American Revolution. It just made me sad to think about children of any background other than American possibly never learning about their own heritage in school. Anyway, I found myself with each short story wanting that story to turn into an entire novel, and wondering what became of the people in each story! Luckily, I have another Lahiri book to read and it's a novel! :-)