The Namesake: A Novel (Edition 001)

Jhumpa Lahiri

The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri, tells the story of modern immigration, and its effects on the...more

The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri, tells the story of modern immigration, and its effects on the families of immigrants. Spanning three generations, Lahiri’s novel traces Ashoke Gangali and Ashima Gangali, a newly wedded couple, as they leave their origins in India to begin a new life and family in the United States. The story grows with the family, as Ashima gives birth to two children, Gogol and Sonia, who struggle to find identities in a culture that is foreign to their parents, while maintaining a connection with the Indian culture. Lahiri composes The Namesake with a unique, eloquent, narrative voice that draws the writer deeply into the lives of each character. Her lengthy, but not exhausting, descriptions serve to send the reader back into the past as the characters reminisce, while the time line moves steadily forward. The novel reflects the transitions of immigration and rites of passage along the progression of life. The novel reflects the Hindu concept of life paralleled over their concept of time. Life is circulatory and therefore never ending, so it pushes fully forward into time. Lahiri writes in a circulatory manner, beginning a paragraph with an idea, delving deep into the life of this idea, and returning once again to the basis of the idea before concluding the paragraph and continuing onto another. In some ways, the bodies of her paragraphs could be removed and the story line would still exist, but this would take away Lahiri’s voice, for the fundamentals of her craft lie in her extremely detailed narratives that intuitively explain the relationships and thoughts of the characters with little dialogue or direct character description. The reader is left to come the know the character on his own by learning his or her experiences, as one would do in real life, rather than being given a character overview upon the character’s introduction. The novel is very much a document of the life of one family. It covers births, deaths, relationships, and emotional conflicts, all presented in a very believable manner. Because the story does not end with a perfect resolution to all of the novel’s conflicts, Lahiri has created characters to whom anyone can relate. Real life simply is not perfect, and, though lessons are learned, people do die unexpectedly, relationships do end, life is at times confusing, children do turn away from their families, people do make mistakes and feel deep regret or feel none at all, and problems often do lay forever unresolved. This novel is extraordinary because it embodies the realities of life in each of its characters, so that every character is dynamic, calling for empathy and understanding as deep as that which one feels for a friend. Lahiri’s prose, which is as descriptive as Faulkner’s and as precise as Golding’s, is an epic story of the lives of immigrants and their families, and the intricate relationships that exist in everyone’s life. Her novel is certainly relevant to Americans, whose nation was built on immigration, and its Indian setting does certainly not place a limit on its audience. The novel is an international tale of family heritage, connection, and tradition, as well as the individual’s search for an explanation of one’s self, circling around the simple concept of a namesake.   hide

I love this book. Just finished reading it. I know it will stay with me for a very long time. ...more

I love this book. Just finished reading it. I know it will stay with me for a very long time. Aside from being a strongly-told story, I could relate to it on SO many levels. I spent much of my time reading this book with a tissue to my eyes. I am married to an immigrant. For ten years I have worked hard to understand the complex feelings he has toward his new life and having left his whole world behind. It is tough being married to an immigrant. At least the parents in this story had each other. But my empathy and sympathy is definitely with my husband, don't get me wrong. After reading The Namesake, I realize that my ten years of earnestly and lovingly working to understand how it feels -- well, I have only scratched the surface. This book has clarified things for me I did not really comprehend before. Secondly, a close family member's significant other is the child of immigrants, another complex life situation, so brilliantly delivered in The Namesake. Reading of Gogol's experience of being truly American, yet influenced and pulled by the past (mostly via parents), helped me to understand better what it must be like for the person who I now consider part of my own family. Yet another similiarity -- I inwardly cringed and outwardly cried at the mismatch of Gogol and Moushumi -- both educated, both good people and interesting people, but reading how comfortable and happy she was in the company of other academics, while her poor husband was the odd man out...this is a terrible situation and I am not sure any mutual happiness can ever come of it (which makes me despair a bit, since I find myself in a similar situation). And, yes, there is more: As a parent of now grown children, also a boy and a girl, I know the *horrible* pangs of empty nest. Those who read this will likely be young and it is hard to get your head around the concept of being bereft of children who once filled your life. As a parent, you want them to move on and build a good life, you know it is the natural order of things. You accept this. But the pain is simply indescrible, and even though most days are normal and busy, that pain still sits in a corner of your heart, in the back of your head. I cried along with Gogol's mother. And when Moushumi recalls her scandalous, reinventive life in Paris, how I know this experience! I followed a similar path myself, albeit in different countries. I know how freeing reinvention can be, and also the cruelty of that experience. And finally -- each time the reference to Nikolai Gogl came up I was moved once again. I agree with Gogol's dad, there is nothing better than Russian literature. I love "The Overcoat" so very much -- it is the ultimate Russian story. How I wish Lahiri had continued her tale so I could read Gogol's reaction to his father's favorite story. Anyone who reads this book and loves it -- for whatever reason -- find a copy of "The Overcoat" and read it. It is only a short story (possibly even readable online), and it might make a difference in your interpretation of "The Namesake"    hide

I actually enjoyed the book despite being told that it wasn't as good as "The Interpreter of...more

I actually enjoyed the book despite being told that it wasn't as good as "The Interpreter of Maladies." I also enjoyed the movie even if it seemed more like it was made for people who had read the book already (or at least people with some understanding of Bengali culture). I think Mira Nair was a good choice as far as direction was concerned. But this is supposed to be a review of the book. I admit, it dragged in places, but the parts that were so well-written really stuck with me. Lahiri is great at what I refer to as "photographic writing," writing so detailed that you remember it as if it had actually happened in your life, that you have a photograph of it misplaced somewhere in your desk drawer. Shrinking a sweater in the dryer by accident, telling your friends about your first kiss, the first time you make love to your girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband, all of these commonly occurring things are made extraordinary in her writing. So I guess this is where some readers got bored. This is hardly an action-driven book, nor is it meant to be one. Even the character development is mostly internal, which is very hard for a writer to accomplish. Yet the one line which struck with me (which I had mixed feelings about being used in the trailer for the movie) was "You remind me of everything after." Knowing what led to that moment and actually having that happen actually made me cry. If anything, I would have to say that was the main emotional climax of the book...which means that there's an additional 200 pages or so afterward which sort of settle in and out, rising and falling in their own rights, but not so much as when Gogol/Nikhil finds out the reason for his being named (which the reader knew all along, so I guess I could see how that would be considered anti-climactic). In the end, I think this is why I appreciate Lahiri's style so much. It would be expected for there to be this big mystery surrounding the title/Namesake and it wouldn't be settled until at least halfway or near the end of the novel. It would be expected for things to be neatly tied up at the ending. However, she chose not to go the expected route. For some readers (like me), it works, for others, not so much. That's perfectly all right though. I still maintain that it is a well-crafted novel.   hide

***SPOILER ALERT***This novel is by a Bengali-American author who tells up of the life of a first...more

***SPOILER ALERT***This novel is by a Bengali-American author who tells up of the life of a first generation boy's experience and that of his family and friends. The story begins with the boy's father nearly dying in a train wreck in Bangladesh - he is saved by waving a sheet of paper torn from the book he is reading which is written by Gogol. This incident nearly cripples him and convinces him he must see the world. He goes to the U.S. for schooling and stays on to teach. He returns to Bangladesh for a wife via arranged ceremony. The couple make a life in America learning as they went but keeping ties with the Bengali community in the northeastern U.S. Their first learning experience is naming their child - they give him a pet name "Gogol" that becomes his real name when he won't respond to his good name "Nikhil". Eventually he changes his name because he dislikes the pet name. He lives a more or less typical American life ending up as an architect in Manhattan. To his surprise he falls in love with and marries a fellow Bengali he has known since childhood. This marriage eventually falters because they are both settling for something less than what they truly want. The novel is paced very well with just the right amount of foreshadowing. We feel Nikhil will not be happy with Maxine because she is too frivolous and expects him to be a blank slate. With his wife he is too much this way - too much the husband and not enough of a character. Yet another excellent Indian writer.   hide

Jhumpa Lahiri (2003): "The Namesake" Dostoyevskij is supposed to have expressed...more

Jhumpa Lahiri (2003): "The Namesake" Dostoyevskij is supposed to have expressed "Красота спасет мир", "Beauty shall save the world". In Lahiri's novel we learn very touchingly and dramatically how (Russian) literature even may save one's life. I do nod approvingly to most of the praise that has been lavished upon Lahiri's still young shoulders for "The Namesake". There are moving passages, drama on many fronts, the generation gap as well as the emi- and immigration gap, and there's poor Gogol at the centre of it all. As a European reader I also appreciated learning more about Benghali culture, outlook, education and customs. It is striking how well the segment of well-educated Benghalis manages to do academically, in the USA and in Euope. Being clever and fastidious enough to reach a PhD, say, is apparently just taken for granted, in the broad circles described in Lahiri's novel, even when they come from relative poverty in Calcutta. At the end of it I nevertheless felt that the novel did not fully match the promise of the short stories collection "Interpreter of Maladies". It is too early to tell where Jhumpa Lahiri's greatest artistic talents lie, but I do hope she will be writing further stories in the shorter format.   hide