BOOK REVIEW: THE NAMESAKE by JHUMPA LAHIRI

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
Genres: Fiction

The Namesake, was on top of my Christmas holidays book-shopping. I have been waiting for a long time to read it. I haven’t read much of the South Asian origin’s authors, but I certainly did enjoy Jhumpa Lahiri. Her command of the language is amazing. The fluency of her writing clearly shows how effortlessly she must have wrote the book. Her captivating manner of writing is what enthralls me.

In a nutshell, the story starts in the form of an immigrant experience. Ashoke and Ashima are first-generation immigrants to the US from India, and they do not have the easiest time adjusting to the peculiarities of their new home and its culture. Gogol, the protagonist, is their son who is tasked with living the double life, fitting in with the culture of his parents as well as the culture of his family’s new country. Simultaneously experiencing two cultures is not always easy, and this is the main theme of this book.

The Namesake is titled because Gogol is named after a Russian writer Nikolai Gogol. Gogol, though a famous namsake, lives his early life disliking it. I felt that this conflict was the main necessary of developing of relations between the characters and furthermore, Gogol and his negligence of his own home. The culture exploration is defined uniquely in the book and that was also a part which enthralled me.

Lahiri, a Pulitzer prize winner, for her short-story collection Interpreter of Maladies, has a magical talent for scribbling. Her near perfection writing is cherishing, and the book is a calm read.

4.5 out of 5 it gets from me. Highly recommended.