Interpreter of Maladies: "A Temporary Matter"

by Jhumpa Lahiri
The title story of Jhumpa Lahiri's collection explores the way people try, and fail, to communicate with one another.

Here are links to our lists for other stories in the Pulitzer Prize-winning collection:
When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine
Interpreter of Maladies
A Real Durwan
Sexy
Mrs. Sen's
This Blessed House
The Treatment of Bibi Haldar
The Third and Final Continent

Here is a link to The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. concede
    admit or acknowledge, often reluctantly
    “It’s good of them to warn us,” Shoba conceded after reading the notice aloud, more for her own benefit than Shuku-mar’s.
  2. dissertation
    a treatise advancing a point of view resulting from research
    Since January he’d been working at home, trying to complete the final chapters of his dissertation on agrarian revolts in India.
  3. agrarian
    relating to rural matters
    Since January he’d been working at home, trying to complete the final chapters of his dissertation on agrarian revolts in India.
  4. elusive
    difficult to describe
    He envied her the specificity of her task, so unlike the elusive nature of his.
  5. consolation
    the comfort you feel when soothed in times of disappointment
    In the beginning he had believed that it would pass, that he and Shoba would get through it all somehow. She was only thirty-three. She was strong, on her feet again. But it wasn’t a consolation.
  6. obstetrician
    a physician specializing in childbirth
    She was tall, and broad-shouldered, with hips that her obstetrician assured her were made for childbearing.
  7. superfluous
    serving no useful purpose; having no excuse for being
    The cosmetics that had seemed superfluous were necessary now, not to improve her but to define her somehow.
  8. reciprocate
    act, feel, or give mutually or in return
    He felt that he needed her to talk first, in order to reciprocate.
  9. reproach
    a mild rebuke or criticism
    She said nothing as he spoke, expressed no protest or reproach.
  10. contorted
    twisted, especially as in pain or struggle
    Shoba looked at him now, her face contorted with sorrow.
Created on Tue May 16 10:00:49 EDT 2017 (updated Wed Jul 23 13:57:25 EDT 2025)

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