The Namesake: A Novel
by Jhumpa Lahiri
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Book Reviews of The Namesake: A Novel
Book Review: A String of Accidents
Summary: 4 Stars
The Bengali culture of the Ganguli family and its assimilation to life in the United States is central to this work. The Namesake, through intriguing and well-drawn characters, succeeds at raising questions about what it is truly like to be both a visible immigrant in this country and, more pointedly, a first generation American--offspring of Indian immigrants.
The primary focus, and the reason it's called The Namesake, is because of the main character, Gogol, and his obsession with his name. Like the author herself, "Jhumpa," this boy is unwilling to give up his traditional, "pet" name, when he becomes school-aged and is suddenly expected to use a "good name," Nikhil. Thus begins the conflict of the generations.
Gogol develops into a brooding, selfish character and in spite of his confusing upbringing, this reader found little reason to find him sympathetic. Thankfully, the storytelling alternates perspectives, going beyond the young boy sulking over his odd name, to that of his parents, Ashimi and Ashoke, together by way of arranged marriage, and includes Gogol's various love interests, not the least being his ultimate wife, the very unlikable Moushumi. Each of these characters is fleshed-out, arousing interest and empathy, and make the story absolutely readable. Additionally, there's a lot of focus on food, and the author described the meals and specialties so well, I could almost taste them.
To use Gogol's own conclusion (that appears a mere five pages from the end) "his family's life feels like a string of accidents, unforeseen, unintended, one incident begetting another." It begins in the 1960s, is written in present tense, and jumps across chunks of time until it comes to its conclusion in the year 2000. This story left me with a feeling of empathy for Indian immigrants and made me truly wonder what it was like to walk in their sandals.
Michele Cozzens, Author of A Line Between Friends and The Things I Wish I'd Said.
Book Review: Cultural Separation and Assimilation Handled with Delicacy and Style by a Standout Writer
Summary: 4 Stars
As a second-generation Japanese-American, I could particularly relate to the struggles between old world and new that Bengali-American author Jhumpa Lahiri depicts in her emotionally drawn story between first generation Bengali immigrants to the United States and their U.S.-born children. Personalizing the inevitable cultural disconnects, whether they emanate through religious, social, and ideological streams, seems to be a specialty of Lahiri's, as she fluidly handles the bumpy transition for Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli from Kolkata to Cambridge next to Boston.
This intricate, life-spanning novel speaks to the universal struggle to extricate ourselves from the obligation of family, and more broadly, the past. It starts in 1968 just after the Gangulis move to Cambridge so that Ashoke can study for his electrical engineering Ph.D. at MIT. They give birth to a son, Gogol, named inadvertently after Ashoke's favorite Russian writer, Nikholai Gogol. The book chronicles the struggles of the young parents, in particular, Ashima, in assimilating into the often cold U.S. culture, and eventually switches perspectives to Gogol's as he grows up, changes his name to Nikhil, attends Yale and becomes an architect in New York.
At the same time, Lahiri makes the old world of Ashoke and Ashima a compelling leitmotif in Gogol's ongoing quest for self-acceptance. Through his parents' traumas and joys, Gogol realizes he is the sum of his family's experiences no matter where he goes. The author seeks the truth in her characters through their guilt and eventual liberation, and she seamlessly passes on the discoveries of their journeys from one generation to the next. There are some sequences that come off a bit too pat, especially toward the end when the focus is on Gogol's social whirl in New York, but Lahiri really succeeds in transcending its intimate portrait into a greater social context, and she does it with prose that alternates between dazzling and poignant.
Book Review: Actually, a Bengali review.
Summary: 3 Stars
While I respect Jhumpa Lahiri's attempts to meld information with experience in her anecdotal story of Gogol Gangulee, it troubles me that a book like The Namesake is so applauded.
Lahiri's The Namesake isn't really that special. Honestly, as a Bengali-American much like Gogol (though hopefully not as completely obnoxious) and someone with a lot of exposure to diasporic works, I found Lahiri's character development poor and her narrative style troubling. This was the first time I ever encountered a narrative voice explaining Bengali/Hindu/Indian words and occaisions in any diasporic fiction, as if Lahiri was consciously implying that her audience was ignorant of these traditions or incapable of finding out their own definitions of it. In trying to maybe inform her readers, she limits interpretative potential.
Furthermore, the reiteration of overused, over expressed themes of identity crisis, escapism into inter-racial relationships, and the always sari-bearing wife by a Pulitzer Prize winning author is incredibly disappointing. Is it so impossible for an Indian-American to just be an American, to be content with his/her biculturalism? For a wife to work and not be miserably lonely? Perhaps this is more so the fault of publishing companies who see some profit potential in the sellable, simplistic, and packaged themes of the Indian experience, but I am sick of the constant "commonality" of the supposed Indian experience and the stereotypical imagery it potentially creates.
Sure, Lahiri describes well the nuances of a particular Bengali experience, but this book is nothing new, nothing creative, and nothing that impressed me nor do I think deserves the praise it keeps getting from primarily non-Indian sources. A pity, I was looking forward to maybe something a little different from someone with Lahiri's background.
If you have exposure to any Indian diasporic films/literature, don't get your hopes up.
Book Review: Insightful view of the immigrant experience
Summary: 5 Stars
Jhumpa Lahiri displays great sensitivity for her characters, while describing the experience of an Indian couple who leave behind their Indian culture to live in Boston, where the husband, Ashoke, is a college professor. From the poignant opening moments when Ashima tries to make a palatable Indian-like dish from Rice Krispies and onions to the final moments, when she returns part-time to India, this book details the trials and heartaches of the immigrant experience. Ashima is a partner in an arranged marriage and she travels to America to put her life and future in the hands of a man she hardly knows. She works hard to keep Bengali customs alive in their home while making the necessary adapations to a new culture. Her children are drawn to the ways of America, and quietly rebel against the old customs of their parents. The story follows Gogol, the son, whose love affairs with women mirror the duality of his American/Bengali heritage. Central to this struggle is his name Gogol which his parents call him at home and Nikhil, the name they give him when he goes to school. The book uses the names interchangably, depending on which culture is the predominant one in his life at a particular time. When his father dies, Gogol mourns, not so much at his passing, but at the missed opportunities to spend time with his father and give him the appreciation he deserved. The book rings with truth, from the broad themes of clashing cultures and generations to the poignant details such as Gogol and his sister Sonia losing the train from their Monopoly game by dropping it accidentally into the heater. The reader learns about many Bengali customs while at the same time vicariously living through the immigrant experience. The people in this book are at first torn by the two cultures, but eventually they learn to make peace with both of them and to feel like whole and integrated people. This is a book well worth reading.Book Review: The Journey of an Immigrant
Summary: 3 Stars
He does not want his name. He does not want to be the quiet, obedient boy he's always been. He does not want to be a part of the Bengali traditions and parties and arranged marriages.
He is Gogol Ganguli, child of Indian immigrants, and one who wishes to be as American as his birth certificate. He seizes control of his own life at eighteen: he changes his name to Nikhil, and attempts to reinvent himself through college. He parties, he drinks, he has a few long-term and disastrous love affairs. And yet, after all his trouble to disengage himself from the life he has grown up with, he begins to return to it after his father's death. Their shared heritage is his only link to his father, and he returns to some of the Bengali ways and customs. He wants to be near his family again, and he starts dating a Bengali girl.
The Namesake, by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri, is ultimately about family themes. Heritage. Rebellion. The search for an identity. Love. The Ganguli family must learn to relate to each other, to overcome challenges, to accept each other's choices.
The book provokes discussions and realizations about the difficulties faced by immigrants; it draws the reader into the heartache of living in two worlds and being a part of none of them. It showcases the struggles of a family seeking to find where they belong and trying to adapt to the new culture around them, and it also displays the trying times that are a part of any family and will resonate with any reader.
Ultimately, however, I found this to be a depressing book. Despite how hard he tries, Gogol seems to be running in the wrong direction, and by thirty he has made somewhat of a mess of his life. It's a starkly realistic book, which perhaps is not my taste anyway, but it does open the reader's eyes to cultural complexities.
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