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constancelee's review against another edition
3.0
This book made me hungry—so much talk of delicious food! I actually give it 3.5 stars, maybe even 4, but I was slow to get into it and every time I found myself warming up to it the author would jump ahead, leaving out what I felt was the real meat of the matter. I can see where Ms. Lahiri would make a terrific short story author, and I look forward to reading the award-winning, Interpreter of Maladies. She did do an excellent job of showing the contrast and conflicts between the two different cultures, and what it is like to be an ABCD (American-Born Confused Desi), and that alone was enough to hold my interest and make The Namesake a worthwhile read. I can also see where this book would make a great film adaptation.
teavani's review against another edition
5.0
5.0
read in 3 days
university library
this is a Jhumpa Lahiri stan account. i have read Lahiri's work before and enjoyed it, but the namesake is definitely my favorite so far, and also my favorite work i've read this year.
Lahiri does an excellent job drawing the readers a scene - there really isn't any need for dialogue. you'd think it would make it slower to read, but i truly found myself engrossed throughout the book, especially as Gogol enters college and onwards. the symbolism and themes aren't too overshadowing and don't insist upon themselves - especially trains and names.
and wow the characters. each one has such an intentional role that is not spelled out but clear to the reader. i especially loved the description of gogol's relationship with Maxine and later with Moushimi. the first details his craving for American validation, to be seen as one of them, to live her life with gerald and lydia - so easy and without thought, something so vastly different than what his parents could offer him. Moushimi though, she needed to be someone else, to live a different life than the one she chose to have with Gogol. I could envision her, as Lahiri wanted me to, with her second choice of Gogol, a sign of defeat to her ideal, optimized self - the person she could be with graham, with astrid and donald, with the people of Paris.
there were so many sentences that stood out to me, a few of which i've included below:
- she has the gift of accepting her life; as he comes to know her, he realizes that she has never wished she were anyone other than herself, raised in any other place, in any other way (138)
- the restrictions amuse her; she sees them as a single afternoon's challenge, an anomaly never to be repeated....he knows that this sort of life, one of which is such a proud accomplishment for his own parents, is of no relevance, no interest, to her, that she loves him in spite of it (146)
- she was exactly the same person, looked and behaved the same way, and yet suddenly, in that new city, she was transformed into the kind of girl she had once envied, had believed she would never become (215)
- but she refuses to indulge him, moving her chair out of view with a scrape on the pavement; she doesn't want to be mistaken for a tourist in this city, she says (234)
- it will be a tiny, odd fact about him, an anecdote , perhaps, for a future dinner party. this is what upsets him most (244)
as an Indian immigrant, i found myself relating to many of the things Gogol accounts. i spoke to my own father about the book, and he said that the story is a very close version of what his eldest sister, who moved to America in the 1970s, experienced. i would say it's a must-read for any indian immigrant or child of immigrants. it truly details the experience like no other, the struggle with identity, the unease of balance, the disconnect between generations.
read in 3 days
university library
this is a Jhumpa Lahiri stan account. i have read Lahiri's work before and enjoyed it, but the namesake is definitely my favorite so far, and also my favorite work i've read this year.
Lahiri does an excellent job drawing the readers a scene - there really isn't any need for dialogue. you'd think it would make it slower to read, but i truly found myself engrossed throughout the book, especially as Gogol enters college and onwards. the symbolism and themes aren't too overshadowing and don't insist upon themselves - especially trains and names.
and wow the characters. each one has such an intentional role that is not spelled out but clear to the reader. i especially loved the description of gogol's relationship with Maxine and later with Moushimi. the first details his craving for American validation, to be seen as one of them, to live her life with gerald and lydia - so easy and without thought, something so vastly different than what his parents could offer him. Moushimi though, she needed to be someone else, to live a different life than the one she chose to have with Gogol. I could envision her, as Lahiri wanted me to, with her second choice of Gogol, a sign of defeat to her ideal, optimized self - the person she could be with graham, with astrid and donald, with the people of Paris.
there were so many sentences that stood out to me, a few of which i've included below:
- she has the gift of accepting her life; as he comes to know her, he realizes that she has never wished she were anyone other than herself, raised in any other place, in any other way (138)
- the restrictions amuse her; she sees them as a single afternoon's challenge, an anomaly never to be repeated....he knows that this sort of life, one of which is such a proud accomplishment for his own parents, is of no relevance, no interest, to her, that she loves him in spite of it (146)
- she was exactly the same person, looked and behaved the same way, and yet suddenly, in that new city, she was transformed into the kind of girl she had once envied, had believed she would never become (215)
- but she refuses to indulge him, moving her chair out of view with a scrape on the pavement; she doesn't want to be mistaken for a tourist in this city, she says (234)
- it will be a tiny, odd fact about him, an anecdote , perhaps, for a future dinner party. this is what upsets him most (244)
as an Indian immigrant, i found myself relating to many of the things Gogol accounts. i spoke to my own father about the book, and he said that the story is a very close version of what his eldest sister, who moved to America in the 1970s, experienced. i would say it's a must-read for any indian immigrant or child of immigrants. it truly details the experience like no other, the struggle with identity, the unease of balance, the disconnect between generations.
nicolegiordano's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely beautiful. A book everyone can identify with, expressing triumphs and fears we have all had. A sweet and sad story, an obvious example of Lahiri's talent for writing.
nabihakhan's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
rebuiltbybooks's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
bbqxaxiu's review against another edition
4.0
beautiful
btw after reading both this and The Lowland, I’m starting to see Lahiri’s pattern of making a small comment at the end of a novel that references something she mentioned in passing at the beginning of the novel…very smooth very smooth okay I see you
btw after reading both this and The Lowland, I’m starting to see Lahiri’s pattern of making a small comment at the end of a novel that references something she mentioned in passing at the beginning of the novel…very smooth very smooth okay I see you
dyno8426's review against another edition
3.0
The act of naming something is usually a conscious step, a personal choice. By choosing to name something, you claim some ownership of it - at the cost of an effort to label the existence of that thing from the obscurity and shapelessness of ideas. This is a two way process though - you also claim responsibility for its identity, a tangible reference that leads back to you and points to your part in shaping its conceptual form. Therefore, its perfections are your laurels and its inaptness your signature. Naming one's child, what this story majorly revolves around, could be a matter of far significance in terms of individuality. One's name is usually the very first thing that most parents actually give to their children, considering the important things that shape our identity apart from our genetics. While it could be a matter of least or no thought in certain cases, I want to consider where there is a consciousness involved. Even simple thing as liking something more than the other tells a lot about the person choosing a name. It might simply be inherited from our ancestors with that basic instinct of preserving artefacts of them, or simply honouring them through remembrance. Perhaps it comes with a linguistic meaning that appeals to the ideals we cherish; or it may draw dreams and inspiration from people who remind us about the good things in the world. More adventurously, it may come from a desire to stand-out and stand apart from the life/culture one has known and borrows those unfamiliar sounds which evoke the beauty of mystery and romance in one. Whatever may be the case, parents are grafting a part of their own lives and experiences to preserve themselves in their children - to cultivate the very same values and preserve sentiments which they cherish in their own lives. In somewhat similar manner, Ashoke Ganguli, a Bengali/Indian immigrant in America, makes his son a namesake of Gogol, the revered Russian author, who affected the father's life in significant enough ways. While this name was supposed to be the "nickname" equivalent in Bengali culture, it very soon roots itself to the child's identity as the "official" name. This duality of familial nomenclature is presented as a metaphor of the two lives where the nickname is used to connect and distinguish family members and close friends, whereas the rest of the world sees the facets of official-named person. The name thus extends its influence beyond the giver-taker relationship. Since it becomes the most common first point of contact to establish connections, it becomes an inextricable symbol of both the individual and cultural attributes that will later on affect our parts of life as well. This dictionary of names that we build will use this etymology of real world examples and mean something so unique to us so as to propagate themselves by their virtue or vice. But as names are given, they can be abandoned as well.
We see that as Gogol Ganguli lives under the voluntary mystery of this unconventional name chosen by his father, its arbitrariness seems to isolate him from both his own cultural expectations and his aspirational ones. His resentment over the unfairness of this choice aggravates to more serious levels when he comes to know about the tragic fate of Nikolai Gogol and does not see the beloved author that influenced his father's life. He finally reinvents himself by legally changing his name to forsake the ownership that was burdened upon him like an unwanted legacy. This comes with a disorientation that manifests itself as the natural consequence of reshaping his identity - something that coalesces with the well known confusion in immigrants to mould their identities in the culture that tethers them with their origin and the one where they envision their future. While the escape from past culture may by wilful, leading to guilt, or desperate, leading to despair, it causes people like then-Gogol-now-Nikhil to wander in search of what defines them. As as instance of the Indian-contextually popular term "ABCD" - American born confused deshi, Nikhil finds himself seeking and gravitating towards various life partners in his adulthood where he sees some clarity in the direction that he should be taking - some anchor in the sea of his identity crisis in which he seems to be drifting away from his family. Various other characters are then seen in the contrast of their solidity, the comfort and fortune of their sheltered identity. The incidents and factors of chance that may affect one's naming, and can so consequentially affect the named person's life, is rendered with convincing gravitas in this book.
We see that as Gogol Ganguli lives under the voluntary mystery of this unconventional name chosen by his father, its arbitrariness seems to isolate him from both his own cultural expectations and his aspirational ones. His resentment over the unfairness of this choice aggravates to more serious levels when he comes to know about the tragic fate of Nikolai Gogol and does not see the beloved author that influenced his father's life. He finally reinvents himself by legally changing his name to forsake the ownership that was burdened upon him like an unwanted legacy. This comes with a disorientation that manifests itself as the natural consequence of reshaping his identity - something that coalesces with the well known confusion in immigrants to mould their identities in the culture that tethers them with their origin and the one where they envision their future. While the escape from past culture may by wilful, leading to guilt, or desperate, leading to despair, it causes people like then-Gogol-now-Nikhil to wander in search of what defines them. As as instance of the Indian-contextually popular term "ABCD" - American born confused deshi, Nikhil finds himself seeking and gravitating towards various life partners in his adulthood where he sees some clarity in the direction that he should be taking - some anchor in the sea of his identity crisis in which he seems to be drifting away from his family. Various other characters are then seen in the contrast of their solidity, the comfort and fortune of their sheltered identity. The incidents and factors of chance that may affect one's naming, and can so consequentially affect the named person's life, is rendered with convincing gravitas in this book.
ariana_0305's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
This book was therapeutic in the way it writes about Bengali culture. Although it’s written about Indian Bengalis I found it super relatable. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book and felt so seen by the story- the unique challenges of the Bengali name culture is perfectly encapsulated which is the main reason why I love it. But also, it has a lot of relatable stuff about the other aspects of brown immigrant culture that I also find very moving. For example, the sacrifices that our parents make particularly our mothers. The only reason I give it a 4.75 rather than a 5 is because I found the ending very underwhelming. You don’t necessarily need a happy ending for it to be good but it wasn’t either in my opinion. Moushmi was a bitch. Idk what it was but the ending was just very underwhelming for me. Otherwise I loved the story and found it really healing. I’ve noticed that I actually struggle to stay engaged in character driven books compared to plot but this isn’t one of them- I stayed engaged BECAUSE of the characters. Anyway I loved this and can’t wait to reread it.
emcbooks's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
courtneyivaska's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5