The Namesake: A Novel by Jhumpa Lahiri
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Book Reviews of The Namesake: A Novel
Book Review: Entertaining and enlightening
Summary: 5 Stars
The best novels entertain and enlighten at the same time. "The Namesake" does both admirably. In a gentle, sympathetic voice, Lahiri recounts the first three decades of a young man's life, and along the way, the reader can learn something about absurdist Russian literature, Bengali culture, New England geography, and the human spirit. Of the many places she vividly describes, I can attest to the accurate descriptions of New England and New York, especially Cambridge, MA. Reading the first few chapters reminded me of my first days in that city and how I felt as a newcomer.
The main character is adrift through most these pages, and you can feel his sense of isolation and ennui. His resignation means that his life is a kind of picaresque gambol, so that things happen without planning and surprise both him and the reader. This gives the book an episodic nature, as he finds himself in different situations as time passes. By the end of the book, he is poised to take ownership of his own life, giving the reader a sense of resolution without artificially wrapping up loose ends.
Lahiri makes deft and consistent use of symbols through the book, especially trains as a metaphor for life and death. Although the prose is simple and lyrical, the subtle shades of meaning stand up to reflection. Like "Interpreter of Maladies", her collection of short stories, this book is deftly observed and thought-provoking.
Book Review: The best Book Club selection...
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahriri is the most recent pick in the book club I am in. I just finished it last night, staying up late to have it done in time for my meeting. Another member picked it and I just have to say she's done a great service to us as readers. "The Namesake" is not only a beautifully crafted telling of The Ganguli's lives, but it's a great and also very interesting lesson in a different culture. Both the writer, Pulitzer Prize(her first work of short stories won her the award) winner Jhumpa Lahiri, and the family in the book are Indian.
This book is a lot like life itself. It's not always perfectly happy yet even in those sad bittersweet parts, we soldier on.
The idea for the book club selection came from seeing the preview of the movie version, which i am definitely going to go check out.
A young Indian couple arrive in the states from Calcutta, leaving all they know behind only to venture out into a place they don't know. They raise two children, Gogol, who hates his name, and Sonia. A big part of this book is focused on Gogol's life once he enters adulthood. He questions so much about his life, upbringing, and name.
"The Namesake" is a great piece of literature that will always be in my heart. I could go on and on, but I will stop at this:
This is one of the best books I have read in my 31 years of reading.
Eileen Famiglietti
Book Review: Excellent take on [Indian/Bengali] immigrants
Summary: 5 Stars
Jhumpa Lahiri is nearly as brilliant in Namesake as she was in the Interpretor of Maladies. Namesake is the story of Gogol, son on Ashoke and Ashima Ganguly. The Gangulies hail from Bengal and throughout their life try to reconcile with their alienated existence in a foreign homeland. The son, Gogol, a namesake of a Russian writer, struggles to come to terms with his love and life. He is born American, flesh and blood Indian and named Russian. The name was given to him as Gangulies never received the letter sent by an aged grandmother carrying the name for Gogol. It was Gogol's book that Ashoke was reading, when he nearly died in a train accident, so the name is forever dear to him. What Gogol does not understand during Ashoke's life, becomes partially apparent to him after his father's death (an extremely moving description).
The novel is about misplaced homelands, about misunderstandings between generations, about the pain and pining of an immigrant, about family values and about an individual who learns from a series of engaging events and conversations the significance of everything he considered meaningless and perhaps, foreign. Namesake is a novel that is brilliant in the description of typical immigrant Bengali families, and does commendable job in capturing the essential conflicts within and among the family members of immigrant families.
Book Review: A talent to die for
Summary: 5 Stars
Until "Interpreter of Maladies" fell into my lap around a month ago, I was starving for a good read (the last thing I had loved was the first installment of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's autobiography "Living to Tell the Tale"), I had never heard of Lahiri, but from the first short story in her pulitzer-prize winning collection, I was captivated. Lahiri has the rare ability to fully convey hugely emotional moments without a trace of hysteria using a language that is at once simple and highly descriptive. Here in her first full-length novel, Lahiri tackles without irritating political agendas, the tribulations of being American with Bengali parents through the life of Gogol Ganguli. She spectacularly uses Gogol's marriage to expose the internal tug of war that makes these individuals renounce and embrace their roots a thousand times a day in a desire to be the same but also to explain why they are not. Unlike most American-Asian writers, she does not use flowery language nor does she feel the need to either glorify of condemn thing like arranged marriage, it is simply a fact of life for some people, not subject to the constant evaluation that westerners feel obliged to perform on something that reeks of anti-progressiveness. As one who knows good books, I know enough to say that this woman has a talent that most writers would turn green with envy for.Book Review: An impressive, moving novel steeped in real life
Summary: 5 Stars
Author Jhumpa Lahiri is a gifted storyteller, and in "The Namesake", she uses this keen eye to deftly explore family life, relationships, the immigrant experience, finding ones true identity, culture clashing, and the nature of love. The novel explores the roots and path of the Ganguli family. Newlyweds by arranged marriage, Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli, leave their extended family and life behind in Calcutta to move to America in the late 1960's. Soon she gives birth to a son, and tradition and the new world, as it were, begin to clash. Their son, Gogol, named after the Russian writer, holds a great burden, and responsibility with this name. But as a teen he is embarrassed by it, and eventually turns his back on his given name. But years will pass before he truly understands the import and history it carries. As his parents navigate their life in the US, keeping a strong sense of their culture and past, it conflicts with Gogol and his sister who identify as American. There is conflict, triumph, tragedy, discovery, comedy, love, lust, and above all, very beautiful and true moments that define family and self...in all cultures. With exceptional writing this novel is both an engaging story and a beautifully written novel that touches the reader with a powerful and authentic voice.