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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780618485222
ISBN number: 0618485228
Label: Mariner Books
Manufacturer: Mariner Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 304
Printing Date: September 01, 2004
Publishing house: Mariner Books
Sale Popularity Level: 4180
Studio: Mariner Books
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Product Description:
Jhumpa Lahiri's debut story collection, Interpreter of Maladies, took the literary world by storm when it won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000. Fans who flocked to her stories will be captivated by her best-selling very first novel, now in paperback for the very first time. The Namesake is a finely wrought, deeply moving family drama that illuminates this acclaimed author's signature themes: the immigrant experience, the clash of cultures, the tangled ties between generations.
The Namesake takes the Ganguli family from their tradition-bound life in Calcutta through their fraught transformation into Americans. On the heels of an arranged wedding, Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli settle in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Ashoke does his best to adapt while his wife pines for home. When their son, Gogol, is born, the task of naming him betrays their hope of respecting old ways in a new world. And we watch as Gogol stumbles along the first-generation path, strewn with conflicting loyalties, comic detours, and wrenching love affairs.
With empathy and penetrating insight, Lahiri explores the expectations bestowed on us by our parents and the means by which we come to define who we are.
Amazon.com Review:
Any talk of The Namesake--Jhumpa Lahiri's follow-up to her Pulitzer Prize-winning debut, Interpreter of Maladies--must begin with a name: Gogol Ganguli. Born to an Indian academic and his wife, Gogol is afflicted from birth with a name that is neither Indian nor American nor even really a very first name at all. He is given the name by his father who, before he came to America to study at MIT, was almost killed in a train wreck in India. Rescuers caught sight of the volume of Nikolai Gogol's short stories that he held, and hauled him from the train. Ashoke gives his American-born son the name as a kind of placeholder, and the awkward thing sticks.
Awkwardness is Gogol's birthright. He grows up a bright American boy, goes to Yale, has pretty girlfriends, becomes a successful architect, but like many second-generation immigrants, he can never quite find his place in the world. There's a lovely section where he dates a wealthy, cultured young Manhattan woman who lives with her charming parents. They fold Gogol into their easy, elegant life, but even here he can find no peace and he breaks off the relationship. His mother finally sets him up on a blind date with the daughter of a Bengali friend, and Gogol thinks he has found his match. Moushumi, like Gogol, is at odds with the Indian-American world she inhabits. She has found, however, a circuitous escape: 'At Brown, her rebellion had been academic ... she'd pursued a double major in French. Immersing herself in a third language, a third culture, had been her refuge--she approached French, unlike things American or Indian, without guilt, or misgiving, or expectation of any kind.' Lahiri documents these quiet rebellions and random longings with great sensitivity. There's no cleverness or showing-off in The Namesake, just beautifully confident storytelling. Gogol's story is neither comedy nor tragedy; it's simply that ordinary, hard-to-get-down-on-paper commodity: real life. --Claire Dederer
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers -
The strength of "The Namesake" is highest when the focus is not actually on the namesake Gogol. I preferred the early chapters on his parents, their move to the US, and the early immigrant experience. The author's observations about America are sharp, and their background as Bengalis, as opposed to other origin (Indian and non-Indian) was fresh (to me). Even when Gogol is young, the child is a vehicle for cultural and family topics.
The novel has two relatively weak spots. The whole stretch with the rich, lefty, New Yorkers did not resonate. It was all too perfect. Part of the problem is that Gogol himself is not that interesting, or at least he isn't portrayed as particularly engaging or reflective. Why exactly do they like him so much? I suppose it was the author's point to show how easily the subsequent generation can fall into luxury and forget its origins, and how American liberal-minded folks can accept an ethnic into the inner circle. The section offered little insight.
The ending was also rather basic. A novel that is not plot-driven, and is more of a series of observations and themes that play out, can be difficult to wrap up, as there is no climax, nor are there loose ends to tie. Thus, the winding down was ok. Fortunately, the mother had returned to be other than a fading background character.
Rated by buyers 
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this book was boring and yet it captivated my attention throughout, i felt like i knew all the characters , Although it is not THE BEST BOOK EVER WRITTEN, its worth a read
Rated by buyers 
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She captures little idiosyncracies that are really authentic. You get attached to the characters. The ending (I don't want to spoil it for you so I wont tell you what happens at the end) makes you think wait what just happened.
Rated by buyers -
The Namesake, the very first novel by Jhumpa Lahiri, is written
in a deceptively simple style. It is a very well crafter novel that
both explores the role of Indians in America, and tells the
story of a family over several decades.
Unfortunately, I have to say that I was somewhat disappointed
by the novel. Lahiri's collection of stories, "The Interpreter
of Maladies" had a much larger impact on me. A version of "The Namesake"
also appeared as a short story in The New Yorker, and I liked that
version far better. I agree that Lahiri is among the best writers in
the US currently, but short stories are her definite strength.
Rated by buyers -
Jhumpa Lahiri writes about a very interesting and commonly neglected new American phenomenon: the rise of the Indian-American middle class.
This book is about cultures, values, life and death, love and misery. It is about America. It is about India. It is also universal.
Lahiri writes with style and elegance. Despite the verbose, I was engaged on the story and how it unfolded. "Namesake" is a great reading.
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