A review by emkatsteen
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

5.0

Like Jhumpa Lahiri's Pulitzer Prize winning short story collection "Interpreter of Maladies," this book blew me away. Her storytelling is emotional and interesting and she build characters in such a realistic way. When I read her work it makes me realize that most other fiction fails to create characters like hers and I'm not sure how she does it so well. The way she talks about Indian culture makes me feel less like an observer and more like a participant (without me pretending to understand what it feels like to be Indian). Also, oh my god, the way she writes about Indian food is transcendent. I could read volumes of her describing someone preparing dinner.

Another favorite of mine. I cried multiple times throughout the book (which is the mark of a great book in my eyes).