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Title

The Namesake

Jhumpa Lahiri

Review

The Namesake takes the Ganguli family from their tradition-bound life in Calcutta through their fraught transformation into Americans. On the heels of their arranged marriage, Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli settle together in Cambridge, Massachusetts. An engineer by training, Ashoke adapts far less warily than his wife, who resists all things American and pines for her family. When their son is born, the task of naming him betrays the vexed results of bringing old ways to the new world. Named for a Russian writer by his Indian parents in memory of a catastrophe years before, Gogol Ganguli knows only that he suffers the burden of his heritage as well as his odd, antic name. Lahiri brings great empathy to Gogol as he stumbles along a first-generation path strewn with conflicting loyalties, comic detours, and wrenching love affairs. With penetrating insight, she reveals not only the defining power of the names and expectations bestowed upon us by our parents, but also the means by which we slowly, sometimes painfully, come to define ourselves. (Review excerpt from Syndetic Solutions)

Why I chose this book:

The Namesake helped me gain a better understanding of the immigrant experience and the issues that many are faced with. The characters were very believable and by the end of the story I found myself wanting to read more on this topic. I don’t usually like to read fiction but would heartily recommend this book. ~ Lauren Donaldson

Review Date

Reviewed December 2008