The Namesake

The Gangulis move from Calcutta to Massachusetts for Ashok's job, alone in a new country and trying to both fit in and preserve their culture. There, they welcome their first son. But something goes wrong, and the letter from Ashima's grandmother containing the baby's name never arrives. Forced to name the child before they leave the hospital and still expecting that the letter with the baby's good name will arrive eventually, the Gangulis decide he will have the pet name Gogol, after the Russian writer whose book Ashok was clutching when he almost died in a train accident years earlier. Gogol goes on the birth certificate, and the strange name will shape Gogol's life as he grows into a young man and grapples with his Indian heritage show more and American upbringing.

I loved this. Many of the same themes as Interpreter of Maladies, but this doesn't feel like a rehash of that collection. Lahiri's writing grabs you and makes you live her characters' lives -- reading one of her books is always immersive. 5 stars. show less

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
Fiction
Lahiri writes with a poetic clarity that makes the act of reading akin to being born again. Her style is such a pleasure to read that it almost relegates the story she is telling superfluous -- almost. Instead, you are softly carried along and privileged to be present as a gentle Bengali couple adjust to life in the Northeast with their two children. The cultures involved loom large and create tension without overshadowing the characters or derailing our sympathy for them. Hopefully, Lahiri will be a prolific author so that when other authors exhaust, there will always be a place to go to be refreshed.
Recommended by Geo, August 2004

This is a reread for me; I don't remember when I first read it, but it was decades ago, and I remembered nothing about the plot, but I did remember the feeling that it is a wonderful story.
It is wonderful, culminating in a fabulous final chapter, reflecting on how life is a series of accidents (or call them what you will) that shape the person you are and the history of your life. What shapes our character - what we do to survive and thrive and what we do for, or to, others.
I like her talent for unusually describing usual sights:
The night is windy, so much so that the car jostles slightly ..., and brown leaves as large as human feet fly across the road in the headlights glare.
They go to darkened, humble-looking restaurants downtown show more where the tables are tiny, the bills huge.
And I like how she can capture big moments and sentiments:
(Ashoke, holding his newborn son) Being rescued from that shattered train had been the first miracle of his life. But here, now, reposing in his arms, weighing next to nothing but changing everything, is the second.
(A girlfriend of Gogol's) She has the gift of accepting her life; as he comes to know her, he realizes that she has never wished she were anyone other than herself, raised in any other place, in any other way. This ... is the biggest difference between them, a thing far more foreign to him than the beautiful house she'd grown up in, her education at private schools. show less

Digital audiobook performed by Sarita Choudhury.

The novel follows the Ganguli family over three decades, beginning when Ashoke and Ashima’s marriage is first arranged in Calcutta. They settle in Cambridge, Massachusetts where Ashoke is studying engineering, have two children, buy a house and live their lives: Indians with American children.

This is the type of literary fiction I adore. Lahiri writes with such eloquence and grace, letting the reader learn about this family much as she would do when meeting new acquaintances who become friends over decades. Their story tackles issues of the immigrant experience, the clash of cultures, differences (and conflicts) between generations, and personal identity.

While their parents find a show more community of other Bengalis with which to associate and celebrate life’s milestones, their children – son Gogol and his younger sister Sonia – are clearly Americans. And yet, Gogol still struggles with identity. First there is his odd name, then there are the lunches his mother packs for him, and the holidays they celebrate (or do not). While his parents cling to the traditions of their upbringing, Gogol wants only to fit in – to have a Christmas tree, and eat peanut butter, hamburgers and French fries. On trips back to India to see family and friends, Gogol feels lost; he does not clearly understand or speak the language, is unfamiliar with the city, cannot fathom why his family stays with relative after relative rather than getting a hotel room or renting an apartment of their own for the duration. In some respects, he is an immigrant in both countries.

Towards the end of the novel Gogol reflects on his and his parents’ lives: He wonders how his parents had done it, leaving their respective families behind, seeing them so seldom, dwelling unconnected, in a perpetual state of expectation, of longing. … He had spent years maintaining distance from his origins; his parents, in bridging that distance as best they could.

And he comes to a sort of conclusion: These events have formed Gogol, shaped him, determined who he is. They were things for which it was impossible to prepare but which one spent a lifetime looking back at, trying to accept, interpret, comprehend. Things that should never have happened, that seemed out of place and wrong, these were what prevailed, what endured, in the end.

Sarita Choudhury does a marvelous job narrating the audiobook. She sets a good pace that still allows the reader to absorb the complexities of the writing. Still, I am glad that I also have a text copy. Lahiri’s writing is the kind that I want to pore over, to read and read again. show less

The Namesake is a book that makes me proud to be an English major. It's an easy recommendation for an enjoyable surface read but it's so brilliantly layered, it's worth analyzing as well. I haven't read too many books written about the lives of Indian-American people but Lahiri's writing was welcoming as I learned about different traditions not only from the perspective of our protagonist but also from his first-generation parents.
This story about relationships, identity, and the way the two themes interact perfectly depicts the universal experiences of life. In addition to the connection I felt to Gogol as he struggled, I felt an equal disconnect to his specific struggles. This was a really wonderful chance at an inside look at a life show more completely different from my own. show less

I really liked this book, even though I thought the last third was weak. It seems to me that the parents' story is much more interesting than their son, the first generation American. The parts of the book that focused on the parents' loneliness, isolation and cultural ostracism were intriguing. I give four stars in spite of, and not because of, the characterization of the son, who was all too eager to blame everything from teenage angst to deeper relationship issues on his status as a first-generation American. He seems to perpetuate his feelings of isolation through a self-fulfilling prophecy which seeks to reject the culture by which he so badly wants to be accepted. It is disappointing that the son character never reached full show more actualization, and was never able to internally integrate his American culture with his Indian heritage. Instead, he seemed ingrained in the pattern of blaming everything on his status, and we are left with the impression that he always will be.P.S., the movie really sucked. Really. The father was the only redeeming character in the movie. show less

Excellent writing, fascinating family tale, switching viewpoints periodically to give us glimpses of the "foreigner" experience from various perspectives. The protagonist, Gogol, is nearly always "The Other" as most of his social interactions seem to be related either to his parents' Bengali community contacts, or his current female companion's friends and family. He never really accepts his own name, and on the threshold of adulthood he changes it, thereby drawing a distinct line between two worlds...the one he grew up in, populated by people who know him as "Gogol", and the other by people who met him after he became "Nikhil". Only after several failed romances, and the departure of his parents does he begin to explore who Gogol show more really might be. Highly recommended. show less