The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri depicts through the eyes of two generations their struggles to situate themselves in a strange land. Inspired by incidents that occur during a train ride, Ashoke is impelled to emigrate from India in the mid-20th century. He meets and marries Ashima and whisks her away from Calcutta to Boston and his new job. While he is able to continue his intellectual life and career, Ashima strives alone to adjust to the cold weather, the unfamiliar food, the foreign language and the new culture, homesick and with a new baby. Her son Gogol grows up with his own sense of estrangement as he navigates between his parents’ worldview and the one he forges. It’s a compelling read with some unexpected twists. ( )

I could cut this short and leave it to the dry conclusion that this was quite nice and entertaining, nothing more. But of course you expect more from me, and rightly so. Ok, this is primarily a coming of age and family novel, the story of the young Gogol who is finding his way through life, especially struggling with his origins. He is an ABCD, an American Born Confused Deshi, the son of Bengali migrants in the US. Lahiri regularly zooms in on the difficult integration process of his parents (especially his mother), on the prejudices that Gogol himself faces and on his struggle with the specific Indian environment in both the US and in Calcutta. This search for his identity has crystallized around his strange name, 'Gogol', after the famous Russian 19th century author.
These are all ingredients for an interesting story (and apparently also a reasonably successful film). But I must honestly admit that it didn't bother me much. Gogol's personality in particular is not an immediately endearing protagonist, his struggles seem rather artificial, and the whole fuss about his name is rather dragged out. Lahiri also pays quite a bit of attention to the materiality of things, especially food, drinks, clothes, furniture etc. She has clearly aimed at the better-off audience that appreciates such things. Not bad, certainly, but not more than that (at least for me). ( )

The writing is of a very high quality in a technical sense, as an omniscient narrator tells the story of a child born to Bengali immigrants in the USA. Initially the tale of of his parents, the tale switches around over the course of the story from one character to another, some for only a few pages, but the core remains the boy. At first the story of misplacement and loneliness felt by a new immigrant from a vastly different culture is effective, and melded with a parallel story of striving for a life in academia. I found this section very good, and as mentioned, very well written. However, as the story progressed the central character, a self-absorbed, self-pitying, rather lame and boring individual takes over and gets more dull. The boy has various romances, but they are driven by women selecting him, apparently because he is good looking, but as he is so dull it is simply a bit hard to believe. A remnant of his being raised as an immigrant and feeling like an outsider is that he is quite the chameleon and melts into his partner's lives without seemingly contributing much. As this goes on for quite a while I lost my patience for him and the story, but did, for reasons not clear to myself, still stay engaged. The boy’s father is an interesting but underdeveloped character, as is the sister. Racism is completely absent which is somewhat surprising. So, as a story of being an immigrant (in a racism free world) or the child of a new immigrant it has interesting elements, but the central character’s mundaneness dulls the overall experience. ( )

Probably my favorite immigration/culture-related story. It shows more than one perspective. It seems very authentic and doesn't feel preachy or self-righteous. ( )

Gogol is named after his father's favourite author. But growing up in an Indian family in suburban America, the boy starts to hate his name and itches to cast it off, along with the inherited values it represents. Gogol sets off on his own path only to discover that the search for identity depends on much more than a name.

This is a quiet story of parents from India adjusting to life in America and their children growing up American and not appreciating their Indian culture. The focus is on son Gogol the most and his ups and downs. Gogol is easy to relate to and believable. Over time, all members of the family come to appreciate the positive things in both cultures. A little bittersweet in the end but I enjoyed the story. ( )