The Namesake: A Novel by Jhumpa Lahiri Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Namesake: A Novel
Book Review: This from a Pulitzer winning author?
Summary: 2 Stars
I have to admit I was surprised at the accolades heaped on this book...it is simply a bland but well-written description of an immigrant family experience in America, a theme previously touched by numerous Indian-American authors (such as Bharati Mukerjee). I felt that the writing was very passive and disinterested, as if the author didnt feel the need to engage the reader with a more compelling storyline, and who instead felt that a quaint description of an exotic cultural experience would suffice to make it a worthwhile read.
And I couldnt help comparing this book to another novel released at the same time which also delves into immigrant experience but within the context of a gripping, heartwrenching story--The Kite Runner (which has received over 200 reviews in Amazon). There, the reader was able to appreciate the Afghani culture and historical context as the author deftly combines it with his storytelling. In the Namesake, the reader is put in the position of an anthropologist, curiously observing a culture from outside. An Indian friend of mine, majoring in Sociology, jokingly referred to the Namesake as a dissertation in immigrant experience. Interestingly, none of my Indian-American friends thought highly of the book!
Book Review: Heavy on sensory description, light on story
Summary: 4 Stars
Lahiri has created an evocative masterpiece, a minutely detailed world that the reader can imagine tasting, smelling and hearing. The description begins in the first paragraph with a vivid account of a heavily pregnant woman and her unusual cravings. Other reviews cite Lahiri's gift for chronicling the outsider experience; I have never lived anywhere other than the US but I think everyone has felt slightly different at times, and she captures that sentiment perfectly. It is remarkable that the more specific a piece of writing is, the more universal it can feel. On the whole, lovely description of a family's experience; the reader should expect no cliffhangers here. Book Review: Caught between two cultures
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Namesake" is the story of Gogol Ganguli, a man born to Indian parents who moved to America shortly after they were married. Gogol's name has always been a source of deep resentment for him, as it is neither Indian or American. Eventually Gogol opts to have his name legally changed before he leaves for college. In addition to adjusting to his new name, Gogol continues with a struggle he's faced his entire life: How to relate to and maintain his Indian culture while living on American soil. Gogol rejects most things about his heritage, preferring to lead a more "Americanized" lifestyle. His choices create a barrier between him and his family, but try as he might, Gogol never feels completely at ease within the American culture, either. He establishes a successful career for himself and has has several serious relationships, but Gogol never really finds a comfortable place for himself in this world. Eventually he finds happiness with an Indian woman, of all people, who relates to him on so many levels. However, Moushumi has her own way of rebelling, and at the end of the novel we find Gogol back at the very place his life began, where he begins to rediscover himself.
I fell in love with this book after reading the first few pages, and I couldn't put it down. I enjoyed it even more than author Jhumpa Lahiri's collection of short stories, "Interpreter of Maladies." Lahiri writes in a simple yet emotional style that is rich in detail. Although the novel revolves around Gogol, Lahiri occasionally shifts perspective and gives the reader a glimpse of the story from the eyes of Gogol's parents and Moushumi. All of the characters make a lot of mistakes, but I was able to easily relate to and empathize with each of them.
This is a book about family, identity, heritage, and self-discovery. You don't have to be the child of immigrants in order to relate to the process of pulling apart from your family and discovering the person you're destined to become. I think this book has something to offer everyone, and it also happens to be a beautiful, poignant story. "The Namesake" is a must-read.
Book Review: the struggle with traditions
Summary: 3 Stars
I just finished reading "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri and I am still trying to figure out if I liked it or not. There was no story, per say. There was no mysterie to solve, no one to really root for, no hero. The story is a 30 year slice of life of the Ganguli family - how the husband and wife married, how the wife joined her husband in America while he was in school, them having children and the children growing up. The book was slow, sometimes even boring and it was easy for me to not like the main character, Gogol (the son), because he was never happy about anything and he was always whining to himself about something. But through all this, Lahiri is illustrating the importance of traditions and how they can be simultaneously comforting, necessary, burdening and sometimes hated. This, I believe, is what Lahiri is trying to show her readers. I ended up really liking this book, but it didn't move fast enough for me and at times felt like a chore. The content of traditions and family values and relations is in there - in fact it is quite strong at times, however the way that Lahiri presented it was too slow for me to want to seek out her other works. One thing that stood out for me with this book though, was the food. Lahiri made me so hungry in the way she described the food in how it was prepared and what was in it, describing how it tasted and what it looked like. I wrote down some of the foods so that I can look them up and try them out.Book Review: Lahiri takes you deep into Bengali culture, American culture and all that brings to fore.
Summary: 5 Stars
We meet a couple who are married and must set off to America for better employment. They are quite young. Soon, they have kids, he has a job at MIT and she stays at home. It sounds tame but the tale is exquisite in the detail it uses to describe common staples of Bengali life, American life, the issues immigrants and first generations face. All the characters are loveable even when they are lost. You become shocking intimiate with them all before you turn the last page. Their family haunts you because while you read, you became that immigrant mother worrying about her son dating an American. It's a great tale of immigration, assimilation, struggling between cultures.