Book Review: The Namesake

Reviewed By: Woodstock - RAM

The Namesake     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Jhumpa Lahiri
Class/Genre:   Fiction

In the late 1960's two young residents of Calcutta enter a marriage arranged by their parents, and within a few months emigrate to Cambridge, Massachusetts where the husband studies engineering at MIT. A son and a daughter are born to them during their student days, the husband graduates and becomes a teacher himself. Their life becomes comfortable as they achieve economic stability, buying a suburban home and raising two thoroughly American children. For the most part, their social circle comprises other young families from the same area of India, with huge holiday and birthday parties, enormous spreads of Indian foods and dozens of young children watching TV, listening to rock music, yet following the customs of their parents in many ways.

Lahiri won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for her first published fiction, a collection of short stories. In this first novel, she follows the early life and maturing years of the son born to the emigre couple. In a tradition from their Indian background, they wait for a family member to send a letter choosing a name for their son. They plan to choose a pet name for use among the family and a "good" name for identification to the outside world. But the letter designating the "good" name never arrives, and the pet name of their choice is the one entered on the little boy's birth certificate.

The threads of this lovely story trace the tension between the pull of the old familiar culture of the parents, who left so much behind when they emigrated, and the place in American culture occupied by their son. The issue of his name comes to represent that tension. We follow his growing years, his boredom during the periodic trips to visit his extended family in India, his college days, love affairs, marriage, and enduring ties to his parents.

Engrossing and enjoyable in every respect!

Woodstock - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Woodstock - RAM