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A review by theinfamousj
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I picked up The Namesake on the recommendation of my step-mother, while on a trip to the Little Free Libraries of Delrey Beach, Florida. (This LFL in particular.) That it also had been turned in to a movie so eligible for the book club I belong to (Movie Book Club) just made it that much more enticing.
I did not end up finishing the book before the Movie Book Club showing, but I did end up finishing the book ... eventually.
Though this book was about an American born young man whose parents were immigrants from India, I found a lot of parallels between the book and the people I knew in my life. My significant other happens to be American born to immigrants (not from India) and could relate to the titular character's identity crisis trying to balance his parents' cultural traditions which would have been in place in the Old Country with the new American culture of his birthright. Or put less respectfully: assimilation.
In addition, I particularly related to The Maxine Vignette, being myself a very American and very white person in a relationship with someone so torn. I felt that the book not only highlighted what is my greatest fear in this relationship, but also validated it by having the titular character do to Maxine what I fear shall be done to me; cast aside when something shocking and emotional happens because I am not a native of his home-culture. While I have certainly made far greater strides than Maxine to understand and incorporate my significant other into my life so that I won't be so foreign should a major emotional event take place, I nonetheless can see the appeal to sink into one's familiarity of youth which I and Maxine shared the commonality of being Most Certainly Not. Though it was not written as such, I empathized with Maxine's yearning to be let in, incorporated, allowed to make family, when instead she was being iced out by the main character who alone could serve as such a barrier. For whatever reason he didn't want to share his Indian side with his cohabiting significant other, it was not she who rejected that side, yet it was her heart which paid the price.
In comparison to the film, I would say to read the novel first. The film does an excellent job trying to capture all of the events of the novel, but tends to leave out the context which the novel provides. Several times during the film I found myself asking why we were being shown what was being shown, such as the lawn chair summer hiatus scene. When I read the book I said, "Ah ha! So it has significance!" That said, the emotionalism of the funerary and post funerary experience was far better captured in the film. The book mentions it, but does not cause the heart to ache in companionship.
.
.
.
The exact copy of this book that I read is a BookCrossing book. Follow this link to track its voyage around the world.
I did not end up finishing the book before the Movie Book Club showing, but I did end up finishing the book ... eventually.
Though this book was about an American born young man whose parents were immigrants from India, I found a lot of parallels between the book and the people I knew in my life. My significant other happens to be American born to immigrants (not from India) and could relate to the titular character's identity crisis trying to balance his parents' cultural traditions which would have been in place in the Old Country with the new American culture of his birthright. Or put less respectfully: assimilation.
In addition, I particularly related to The Maxine Vignette, being myself a very American and very white person in a relationship with someone so torn. I felt that the book not only highlighted what is my greatest fear in this relationship, but also validated it by having the titular character do to Maxine what I fear shall be done to me; cast aside when something shocking and emotional happens because I am not a native of his home-culture. While I have certainly made far greater strides than Maxine to understand and incorporate my significant other into my life so that I won't be so foreign should a major emotional event take place, I nonetheless can see the appeal to sink into one's familiarity of youth which I and Maxine shared the commonality of being Most Certainly Not. Though it was not written as such, I empathized with Maxine's yearning to be let in, incorporated, allowed to make family, when instead she was being iced out by the main character who alone could serve as such a barrier. For whatever reason he didn't want to share his Indian side with his cohabiting significant other, it was not she who rejected that side, yet it was her heart which paid the price.
In comparison to the film, I would say to read the novel first. The film does an excellent job trying to capture all of the events of the novel, but tends to leave out the context which the novel provides. Several times during the film I found myself asking why we were being shown what was being shown, such as the lawn chair summer hiatus scene. When I read the book I said, "Ah ha! So it has significance!" That said, the emotionalism of the funerary and post funerary experience was far better captured in the film. The book mentions it, but does not cause the heart to ache in companionship.
.
.
.
The exact copy of this book that I read is a BookCrossing book. Follow this link to track its voyage around the world.