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The Namesake A Novel Jhumpa Lahiri 9780618485222 Books

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The Namesake A Novel Jhumpa Lahiri 9780618485222 Books

I had to read this book for my ENG101 class in college. To be fair, this wasn't a horrible book. The first two or three chapters of the book are perhaps the strongest passages in the novel. We get introduced to Ashima, who to me should have been the main focus of the book instead of her son, Gogol. Her experiences reflect what many foreigners feel when coming to America or any foreign country. Why the author had to focus on Gogol's life, which is ordinary and uneventful, instead of Ashima's life, which even long after he was born is filled with regret, sadness, hope, and desire, is beyond me.

First of all, Gogol is a lackluster, tedious character. His story alone is not enough to carry a whole novel. A short story maybe, but not an almost 300 page novel. Apparently, the author wanted to show the difference between American and Bengali culture through the eyes of this character. But for some reason, the author barely makes a comparison, beyond the obvious reasons like food, family, marriage, and religion. There are some episodes where Gogol and his family go to India, but we get no insight about the culture, the people, or where Gogol's family came from. "The namesake" is the only thing that drives Gogol to think about his past and briefly over his culture. I found "the namesake" to be played out too much. He seems to dislike his name the most because it's inconvenient. Okay, so the name is Russian instead of Indian or American. What other reason does he hate his name? Can it go beyond the inconvenience and origin of the name? Why should we feel sorry for him? I could understand if the name caused conflict in his family back in India, or an even greater conflict in his social life, but all it does is make him dwell on it like some disease. When he changed his name, why did he change it to Nikhil, similar to Nikolai, the first name of the author he despised, the author who carried the origin of his namesake? What difference did it make that his new name is Nikhil instead of Gogol? Why even let this event happen at all if a chapter or two later the narrator is back to calling him Gogol?

Another thing, I never really understood why the author, who had a strong grasp of the plot by letting it focus on a few Bengali characters, suddenly lets the whole plot fall into the most boring route as possible. When Gogol is in his thirties, the author tends to put way too much detail on the insignificant, daily activities and routines of the characters, with no insight at all about their emotions or reactions towards the day. As for Gogl's love affairs, why did they end so quickly with no explanation? Why did that one relationship had to be the main focus on the plot for nearly one or two chapters? Who were these women? What were they like? What were their goals or ambitions? Why did they like Gogol? At times I felt as if Gogol's girlfriends were there for no other reason than for the predictable questions to be asked (does your family want you to marry an Indian woman? what's India like?) and for the obvious situations to arise (Gogol telling his mother about being with an American girl after hiding his "secret" for awhile). If the author wanted to focus on Gogol's love affairs, they could have at least been more exciting, interesting, and adventurous. A little bit of character development wouldn't hurt.

To be honest, I felt like the main flaw of this entire book was the author's style of writing. It's boring. It's not driven. It tends to ramble on tediously, making even the tragic and touching moments of the book very dry and dispassionate. I think another downfall was the author's overabundance of generic detail. We get vivid detail of places, environs, and daily routines that don't add anything to the plot. We get to know what college a character has been to, the degree they pursued, the job or career they earned, and houses they live in and the restaurants they go to, a hint to how much money they make and the upper-class lifestyle they lead. None of this speaks volumes about the heart of the character, let alone does it really say what kind of people they are. This makes the narration the bit more tedious and the plot more lackluster. At that point, it makes Gogol's namesake dilema ridiculous and childish. It's just insecurity, not a cry for help. I don't sympathize with this character because of his name, or because he won't get over it. To me i think the author's intention of making "the namesake" the main theme and focus on the character's life is what made Gogol a very superficial, one-dimensional character.

I think if the author put more focus on Gogol's mother and father, whose lives, for very little we know of it, is far more in depth and interesting than that of Gogol's, this would have been a more exciting read. Maybe the author underlooked the great potential that her minor characters had. Gogol's mother married a man she barely knew, and was swept into a country that she still doesn't understand long after her two children were born, children who know the country more than they know their own. Gogol's father nearly died in a tragic train accident, naming his son after the author of the book that saved his life. How about their Bengali friends in America, who seem to keep their Indian culture and customs intact. How do they do it? How are they raising their children in America? What about Gogol's sister? What's it like for her being an Indian-American female? How does it affect her later in life? All the possibilities were there. So many characters with great stories to tell, many thoughts to be unraveled. Instead, the author just focuses on Gogol's whiney attitude about his namesake and his unexciting love affairs, while letting the other characters fade as if their stories are not important. I think that's such a shame. I was kind of surprised to know that this book is going to be a movie. As I said, if the book focused more on Gogol's family and their Bengali friends, it would have been a more exciting idea for a movie, but since the book focuses on Gogol's boring life and over the top obsession with his namesake, I'm not sure if i would be that interested in watching it on the big screen.


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The Namesake A Novel Jhumpa Lahiri 9780618485222 Books Reviews

This is quite an ordinary story of a young man struggling to find his identity, conflicted by his mixed heritage and unable to fit into his own name. What makes it exceptional is the delightful sensitivity of the description of his journey. We follow him through his boyhood, his education, his series of affairs, the loss of his father and his lovers -- nothing remarkable except for the telling. The subtle colors and textures that are woven through Lahiri's prose bring this story to life. It's not a page turner, not to be taken as a succession of tequila shots, but rather to be sipped and savored like fine wine. I'm still enjoying the aftertaste.
It's easy to move through this story, carried along by the characters. I gave this one only 3stars because I felt too much as if I were merely reading about the characters instead of truly learning about them and how the events of the many decades covered in this book actually impact each individually and collectively, events that should have made me cry merely stacked up with everything else. I never got inside the heart and mind of anyone, which is an essential component of my favorite books.
The Namesake -- Jhumpa Lahiri

PROS Beautifully written, with vivid depictions of characters and settings that feel true and authentic. A timeless, classic story of identity, family, and self-discovery.
CONS The last third of the book drags a little and didn't sustain my attention the way the rest of the book did. The ending was poignant but a little dull. I had expected (and hoped for) more.

Overall This is my first Jhumpa Lahiri read, so I can't compare it to Interpreter of Maladies or any of her other works. I appreciate Lahiri's ability to make her characters "come to life" on the page, to recreate specific time periods, settings, and kinds of people with such skill that you sometimes forget you're reading fiction. This was an enjoyable read, though the first 2/3 of the book was better, in my opinion, than the end. I kept waiting for the plot to intensify a little, but the story plodded on as it had throughout, if anything becoming less intense as it progressed. Nevertheless, this is a fine novel, a worthy retelling of a classic human story, well written and, for the most part, engaging. Not an amazing book, but a good one.
This book is one that will stay with me for a while. Jhumpa Lahiri is well-deserved of her status as an outstanding author. She uses her skills wisely in this novel, her keen eye for the Universal human condition aid her in painting a picture that is both specific, and yet relatable. I cannot imagine anyone who loves literature being unable to find this story deeply compelling. I couldn't put it down.

I have read several of Ms. Lahiri's works and I love them, also. There's nothing I could, nor would presume to think unworthy in this captivating novel. I am even more of a fan of her books after having read this one. I encourage all to read it, as well. I am beyond pleased with this wonderful addition to my library.
Again I am captivated by the writings of Jhumpa Lahiri. Having read Interpreter of Maladies, I was rewarded by once again selecting this novel.

There is nothing like historical fiction and/or stories incorporating other cultures, traditions and mindsets.

Ms. Lahiri has the gift of interpreting a fine story along with all.

The Namesake, one Gogol Ganguli, son of Bengali immigrants, Ashima and Ashroke, spends his life attempting to reinvent himself, his name and heritage in order to...what?

Gogol and all the characters are relatable, understood and add to the complexity we all have in our close and extended relationships.

I cared, absorbed, and was enlightened with culture and new insights.
I had to read this book for my ENG101 class in college. To be fair, this wasn't a horrible book. The first two or three chapters of the book are perhaps the strongest passages in the novel. We get introduced to Ashima, who to me should have been the main focus of the book instead of her son, Gogol. Her experiences reflect what many foreigners feel when coming to America or any foreign country. Why the author had to focus on Gogol's life, which is ordinary and uneventful, instead of Ashima's life, which even long after he was born is filled with regret, sadness, hope, and desire, is beyond me.

First of all, Gogol is a lackluster, tedious character. His story alone is not enough to carry a whole novel. A short story maybe, but not an almost 300 page novel. Apparently, the author wanted to show the difference between American and Bengali culture through the eyes of this character. But for some reason, the author barely makes a comparison, beyond the obvious reasons like food, family, marriage, and religion. There are some episodes where Gogol and his family go to India, but we get no insight about the culture, the people, or where Gogol's family came from. "The namesake" is the only thing that drives Gogol to think about his past and briefly over his culture. I found "the namesake" to be played out too much. He seems to dislike his name the most because it's inconvenient. Okay, so the name is Russian instead of Indian or American. What other reason does he hate his name? Can it go beyond the inconvenience and origin of the name? Why should we feel sorry for him? I could understand if the name caused conflict in his family back in India, or an even greater conflict in his social life, but all it does is make him dwell on it like some disease. When he changed his name, why did he change it to Nikhil, similar to Nikolai, the first name of the author he despised, the author who carried the origin of his namesake? What difference did it make that his new name is Nikhil instead of Gogol? Why even let this event happen at all if a chapter or two later the narrator is back to calling him Gogol?

Another thing, I never really understood why the author, who had a strong grasp of the plot by letting it focus on a few Bengali characters, suddenly lets the whole plot fall into the most boring route as possible. When Gogol is in his thirties, the author tends to put way too much detail on the insignificant, daily activities and routines of the characters, with no insight at all about their emotions or reactions towards the day. As for Gogl's love affairs, why did they end so quickly with no explanation? Why did that one relationship had to be the main focus on the plot for nearly one or two chapters? Who were these women? What were they like? What were their goals or ambitions? Why did they like Gogol? At times I felt as if Gogol's girlfriends were there for no other reason than for the predictable questions to be asked (does your family want you to marry an Indian woman? what's India like?) and for the obvious situations to arise (Gogol telling his mother about being with an American girl after hiding his "secret" for awhile). If the author wanted to focus on Gogol's love affairs, they could have at least been more exciting, interesting, and adventurous. A little bit of character development wouldn't hurt.

To be honest, I felt like the main flaw of this entire book was the author's style of writing. It's boring. It's not driven. It tends to ramble on tediously, making even the tragic and touching moments of the book very dry and dispassionate. I think another downfall was the author's overabundance of generic detail. We get vivid detail of places, environs, and daily routines that don't add anything to the plot. We get to know what college a character has been to, the degree they pursued, the job or career they earned, and houses they live in and the restaurants they go to, a hint to how much money they make and the upper-class lifestyle they lead. None of this speaks volumes about the heart of the character, let alone does it really say what kind of people they are. This makes the narration the bit more tedious and the plot more lackluster. At that point, it makes Gogol's namesake dilema ridiculous and childish. It's just insecurity, not a cry for help. I don't sympathize with this character because of his name, or because he won't get over it. To me i think the author's intention of making "the namesake" the main theme and focus on the character's life is what made Gogol a very superficial, one-dimensional character.

I think if the author put more focus on Gogol's mother and father, whose lives, for very little we know of it, is far more in depth and interesting than that of Gogol's, this would have been a more exciting read. Maybe the author underlooked the great potential that her minor characters had. Gogol's mother married a man she barely knew, and was swept into a country that she still doesn't understand long after her two children were born, children who know the country more than they know their own. Gogol's father nearly died in a tragic train accident, naming his son after the author of the book that saved his life. How about their Bengali friends in America, who seem to keep their Indian culture and customs intact. How do they do it? How are they raising their children in America? What about Gogol's sister? What's it like for her being an Indian-American female? How does it affect her later in life? All the possibilities were there. So many characters with great stories to tell, many thoughts to be unraveled. Instead, the author just focuses on Gogol's whiney attitude about his namesake and his unexciting love affairs, while letting the other characters fade as if their stories are not important. I think that's such a shame. I was kind of surprised to know that this book is going to be a movie. As I said, if the book focused more on Gogol's family and their Bengali friends, it would have been a more exciting idea for a movie, but since the book focuses on Gogol's boring life and over the top obsession with his namesake, I'm not sure if i would be that interested in watching it on the big screen.