Jhumpa Lahiri's - The Namesake
Genre - Fiction / Drama
Rating - 4.5/5
Entertaining and enjoyable read if you like to spend some time reading fiction. This is a story of immigrants from Calcutta, India to the land of opportunities, America. It appealed to me more because of the similarity between the experiences Ashima and Ashoke Ganguli faced and those I had in my early days in US. The blend of loneliness and excitement, hope and pathos can be clearly felt through the words. This debut novel by Jhumpa Lahiri centers on Ashima and Ashoke's son Gogol, who is THE NAMESAKE of a Russian author, Nikolai Gogol, whose short stories saved Ashoke's life in a train accident. Each and every detail of Gogol's life is described with extreme subtlness. Story starts with the birth of our hero and in between hopscotches to his parents' pre-nuptial life in India. Author takes us on a very loving ride into Gogol's world right from his childhood to his school years, from his college career to his job as an architect, from his succinct flings to his divorce. Gogol, I would say, is the best exemplar of the clan of 'ABCD' (American Born Confused Desi) . Torn between the American culture and Indian heritage, Gogol tries to find his individuality in his name - Gogol - which is neither American nor Indian. His love for his name as a toddler and loathness towards the same as he grows are tailored perfectly.
Story is very crystal clear, sans intrigues or fights or scandals. Each incident penned in the book can be related to lives of people especially like me who crossed half of the globe and made this alien place a home. It gives a good insight into the life of children born in this country to Indian parents. Before reading this book, I never gave a thought on how these kids try to balance themselves on the thin rope which separates Indian ethics from American etiquettes.
The beauty of Lahiri's work lies in the unadorned yet apt words she has used in this book which makes it more like a granny-narrated story. I wish there were a sequel to this book!
posted by Mrinal at
1:11 PM
9 Comments:
Aaah..finally a post after a long time. I was wondering if read-o-meters reading will change or not. On the book..seems interesting. I always relish on stories having streaks of one's life.
Sounds like a must-read for a person of my tastes! Give it to me during the Christmas break, please will you? :)
Very well-written, btw... You make your reader want to read the book! To arouse the readers' interest is the goal of a good review.
~Sachin: Yes, u will surely like it. And read-o-meter was badly affected by the work load!
~Priya: I hv loads of books for you to read in this vacation. I will give them to u as soon as you step into our home to keep you busy so that amhla tuzi badbad aaikavi lagnar nahi :))
I want to read Jhumpa Lahiri..the only US based desi female author who i've read and really like is Chitra Banerjee Divakruni..
~Natasha: I hv heard of that author but never read any of her works.. I hv added her in my to-read list :)
Hi Mrinal..try getting hold of Arranged Marriage by Chitra Bannerjee, it's a collection of short stories, i thought that was a good book. also have you read Rohinton Mistry...very depressing but very good!!!
~Natasha: Thanks for the suggestion. Reviews of the book look good.
I was going to take ur advice before ordering any of her books :)
Hey, didn't know we were reading the same book around the same time! Cool, buddy! In spite of my bitter review of the book, I must say that Lahiri uses language beautifully. For some reason, I wished it was a little more complicated than the simplicity she applies.
People are talking of Chitra Divakaruni here, so I thought I'd mention. She teaches at my University and I haven't read a single book by her. I have seen her at the department though.
~Sampada: Yes, I was surprised to see ur blog too..When I saw Namesake's pic on ur blog, for a moment I was like.. whoa.. Hv i opened my own blog :))
Cool, Chitra Banerjee is in ur Univ.. will surely tell this to my friend who mentioned her name!
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