"The Namesake "follows the Ganguli family through its journey from Calcutta to Cambridge to the Boston suburbs. Ashima and Ashoke Ganguli arrive in America at the end of the 1960s, shortly after their arranged marriage in Calcutta, in order for Ashoke to finish his engineering degree at MIT. Ashoke is forward-thinking, ready to enter into American culture if not fully at least with an open mind. His young bride is far less malleable. Isolated, desperately missing her large family back in India, she will never be at peace ...
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"The Namesake "follows the Ganguli family through its journey from Calcutta to Cambridge to the Boston suburbs. Ashima and Ashoke Ganguli arrive in America at the end of the 1960s, shortly after their arranged marriage in Calcutta, in order for Ashoke to finish his engineering degree at MIT. Ashoke is forward-thinking, ready to enter into American culture if not fully at least with an open mind. His young bride is far less malleable. Isolated, desperately missing her large family back in India, she will never be at peace with this new world. Soon after they arrive in Cambridge, their first child is born, a boy. According to Indian custom, the child will be given two names: an official name, to be bestowed by the great-grandmother, and a pet name to be used only by family. But the letter from India with the child's official name never arrives, and so the baby's parents decide on a pet name to use for the time being. Ashoke chooses a name that has particular significance for him: on a train trip back in India several years earlier, he had been reading a short story collection by one of his most beloved Russian writers, Nikolai Gogol, when the train derailed in the middle of the night, killing almost all the sleeping passengers onboard. Ashoke had stayed awake to read his Gogol, and he believes the book saved his life. His child will be known, then, as Gogol. Lahiri brings her enormous powers of description to her first novel, infusing scene after scene with profound emotional depth. Condensed and controlled, "The Namesake" covers three decades and crosses continents, all the while zooming in at very precise moments on telling detail, sensory richness, and fine nuances of character.
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An intelligent and empathetic look at transcultural family life, Indian values and its tensions, and the search for roots by a writer formed by such things (India, UK and US). Wonderful character portrayals, a delightful read that may broaden your cultural awareness as it did mine.
JRich
Jul 15, 2008
Wonderful!
I loved this story for the way it portrayed both the ordinary and the extraordinary experiences of the characters' lives. The way she wove the stories of Ashoke and Ashima together with the stories of their children was also very beautiful giving you a perspective most readers will probably share - that of a child and that of a parent - having been the one and become the other. Certain parts of the story broke my heart and other parts felt like small triumphs, but all told the story just felt very real. My life, as a suburban wife and mother living 3 miles from where a grew up with a Western European background and not even possessing a passport, is continually enriched by authors such as Lahiri who share something that, to me, is a world away.
sase
Jan 22, 2008
the way she wrote the book will make you feel how each of the characters felt in different situations there is a beautiful connection between the reader and the characters she did a wonderful job
Nell
Jun 22, 2007
Culturally Revealing and Poignant
Jhumpa Lahiri's novel The Namesake is a powerfully told story of cultures merging. It is also a riveting coming-of-age story of a boy who grows into his name. Definitely a worthwhile book!
pattybake
Apr 26, 2007
The Namesake
This book is a wonderful read! I read it for my book club in February. I would recommend this to everyone!