Q 01/05

Which award, rarely given to short stories, did Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies win in 2000?

A) The Booker Prize

B) The Pulitzer Prize

C) The Nobel Prize

D) The National Book Award

Answer · why

B) The Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction went to Lahiri at the age of 32, for her very first book. It was only the seventh story collection ever to win.

Q 02/05

In the story Interpreter of Maladies, which animals attack young Bobby Das during a sightseeing detour?

A) Stray dogs

B) Crows

C) Monkeys

D) Wild boars

Answer · why

C) Monkeys

Monkeys close in on Bobby and beat him with a stick until the guide, Mr. Kapasi, chases them off. They had followed a trail of food his mother spilled...

Q 03/05

In Jhumpa Lahiri's The Third and Final Continent, which news event must Mrs. Croft's lodger praise nightly?

A) The Moon landing

B) The Woodstock festival

C) The World Series

D) The Boston Marathon

Answer · why

A) The Moon landing

The Moon landing happens while the narrator is flying to America in 1969, and his aged landlady cannot get over it. Each evening he must sit beside he...

Q 04/05

In Jhumpa Lahiri's A Temporary Matter, what does a notice warn Shoba and Shukumar to expect for five evenings?

A) A water shutoff

B) A road closure

C) A gas leak

D) A power cut

Answer · why

D) A power cut

A power cut at eight each night, while a line is repaired, is the temporary matter of the title. In the dark the estranged couple begin trading secret...

Q 05/05

In Interpreter of Maladies, where does tour guide Mr. Kapasi work on weekdays, using his gift for languages?

A) A hospital ward

B) A doctor's office

C) A village pharmacy

D) A medical college

Answer · why

B) A doctor's office

A doctor's office is where he translates the symptoms of Gujarati-speaking patients for a physician who cannot understand them. Mrs. Das finds the job...