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The Namesake

by mr. hipster May 7, 2014
May 7, 2014
The Namesake
87
The Namesake
Genre: Cultural Fiction
Author: Jhumpa Lahiri
Publication Year: 2003
Length: 291 pages

As is typical of Indian novels, this is a tale of family and all the fucked up things that happen to them. And of course there’s a train accident where lots of people die. Beyond that, though, there is a lot less maiming and pooping on train tracks and abject horror. After all, this is an immigrant’s tale, immigrants to the nice, clean, perfect United States of America. Perfect, I said!

So, like so many immigrants to the US, Ashoke and Ashima come to the US to make a better life for themselves and their eventual family. Ashoke is an engineering student at MIT, which is obviously a source of pride for a culture that values high education, but also a source of grief for Ashoke and his wife, who feel lost in a foreign culture and isolated so far away from their extended family. This isolation is especially evident as Ashima is about to give birth to a new generation of Ganguli. By tradition the baby’s grandmother is supposed to send a name for the baby. Problem is, the letter from the grandmother doesn’t arrive by the time the Gangulis need to leave the hospital. And you can’t leave the hospital with a baby without a name. So they pick one — one that was supposed to be a pet name — based on a connection that the father had with the author Nikolai Gogol. Gogol: clearly a Russian and not an Indian. So now you have this kid in 1968 US, a son of Indian immigrants with an oddball Russian last name for a first name. Start the identity crisis.

The rest of the book follows Gogol’s travails as he searches for an identity both within his own family and the greater community as he struggles with this moniker with which he’s saddled and the fight to both be loyal to his family’s tradition and trying to blaze a new trail for himself in the modern, Western world. Along the way he has relationships with Americans and Indians alike, again battling with his need to be American and his desire to appease his parents by sticking with tradition. This duality in his life is represented by the duality of his name. After all, Gogol was supposed to be his pet name, used only with close Indian friends and family, while his “good” name that was supposed to be his public-facing name was eventually settled as Nikhil. Throughout the book he struggles with his namesake (thus the name of the book!), not understanding the significance of his own identity and confused why his father would give him what he sees as an almost shameful badge. It is not until the end of the story, after everything that he’s been through and after he really understands why his father named him Gogol that he accepts and comes to terms with his place in the world.

I haven’t read a ton of US immigrant stories. The only one I can recall of the top of my head is What Is the What, but that’s quite a different tale. As an Angeleno I grew up with and around many children of immigrants. As a third-generation American, I hadn’t the slightest idea how tradition and family, obviously strong in all these communities, played against assimilation while my friends fought to be as American as I was. This story feels so familiar in its familial narrative, but the tradition gives it those roots and gives it some heft that maybe the same tale about a whiny New England family might not.

2003Cultural FictionJhumpa Lahiri
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Adam Haslett Adam Langer Adrienne Miller Annie Proulx Antti Tuomainen Arundhati Roy Augusten Burroughs Austin Grossman Ben Mezrich Bernard Malamud Blake Crouch Charles Bukowski Charlie Huston Chris Ware Chuck Kinder Chuck Palahniuk Claire North Colson Whitehead Cormac McCarthy Daniel Wallace Dara Horn Dave Eggers David B. David Foster Wallace David Mitchell David Sedaris David Wong DBC Pierre Don DeLillo Drew Magary E.L. Doctorow Edward Ashton Elie Wiesel Elliot Perlman Elmore Leonard Emily St. John Mandel Eric Garcia Erik Larson Ethan Brown Ethan Canin Gary Shteyngart Glen David Gold Harlan Ellison Haruki Murakami Henry Roth Hernan Diaz Ian McEwan Indra Sinha Italo Calvino J.M. Coetzee James Chapman James Crumley James Ellroy James Frey Jane Harper Jean Hanff Korelitz Jennifer Egan Jhumpa Lahiri Jim Crace Jim Knipfel John Banville John Kennedy Toole John Updike Jonathan Ames Jonathan Franzen Jonathan Lethem Jonathan Safran Foer Jon McGregor Josh Aiello Joshua Ferris José Saramago Junot Díaz Karen Joy Fowler Kazuo Ishiguro Kem Nunn Kevin Baker Kiran Desai Malcolm Lowry Marc Spitz Mark Costello Mark Haddon Mark Helprin Mark Z. Danielewski Martin Amis Matthew Kneale Max Beerbohm Michael Chabon Michael Cunningham Michel Faber Mike Schneider Nathan Englander Nathan Hill Neil Gaiman Newton Thornburg Nicholson Baker Nick Fowler Nick Hornby Nicole Krauss Noah Hawley Norman Mailer Olga Tokarczuk Ottessa Moshfegh Patrick Hamilton Patrick Hoffman Paul Auster Paul Beatty Paul Harding Peter Carey Philip K. Dick Philip Roth Rachel Kushner Richard Ford Richard Powers Richard Russo Rick Moody Rivka Galchen Robert A. Heinlein Roberto Bolaño Rohinton Mistry Ron Currie S.A. Cosby Salman Rushdie Sam Harris Saul Bellow Sean Wilsey Steph Cha Stephen D. Levitt Stephen J. Dubner Stephen King Steve Erickson Steven Hall Susanna Clarke Tao Lin Theodore Roszak Thomas Pynchon Tim O'Brien Tobias Wolff Toby Young Tom De Haven Téa Obreht Victor Pelevin Viet Thanh Nguyen Walker Percy William Gibson Will Self Yann Martel Yoko Ogawa Zadie Smith

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      January 26, 2025

      Concert Reviews
      The Beths @ White Eagle Hall

      September 26, 2024

      Concert Reviews
      Pearl Jam @ MSG

      September 9, 2024

      Concert Reviews
      Cloud Nothings @ (Le) Poisson Rouge

      May 15, 2024

      Concert Reviews
      Band of Horses @ The Wellmont Theater

      February 13, 2024

  • Movies
    • Movie Reviews
      A Complete Unknown

      July 31, 2025

      Movie Reviews
      Mickey 17

      July 22, 2025

      Movie Reviews
      Mountainhead

      July 4, 2025

      Movie Reviews
      Fountain of Youth

      June 24, 2025

      Movie Reviews
      A Different Man

      June 10, 2025

      Movie Reviews
      Problemista

      May 22, 2025

      Movie Reviews
      Flipside

      May 4, 2025

  • Books
    • Book Reviews
      Trust

      June 19, 2025

      Book Reviews
      Razorblade Tears

      May 24, 2025

      Book Reviews
      The Plot

      March 14, 2025

      Book Reviews
      Maximum Bob

      February 17, 2025

      Book Reviews
      The Sympathizer

      January 6, 2025

      Book Reviews
      The Zone of Interest

      July 12, 2024

      Book Reviews
      Klara and the Sun

      April 13, 2024

  • Podcasts
    • Podcast Reviews
      The Wedding Scammer

      March 1, 2025

      Podcast Reviews
      Search Engine

      November 27, 2024

      Podcast Reviews
      Hysterical

      August 30, 2024

      Podcast Reviews
      60 Songs That Explain the ’90s

      March 31, 2024

      Podcast Reviews
      Otherworld

      February 29, 2024

      Podcast Reviews
      Behind the Bastards

      February 13, 2024

      Podcast Reviews
      Time Crisis

      January 26, 2024

  • Booze & Grub
    • Booze & Grub ReviewsBooze & Grub: NYCBooze & Grub: NJThe NYC Booze & Grub GraveyardThe NJ Booze & Grub Graveyard
      Booze & Grub Reviews
      Coda Kitchen & Bar

      July 29, 2025

      Booze & Grub Reviews
      Sweet T’s Southern Eatery – Montclair

      July 24, 2025

      Booze & Grub Reviews
      Tinga Fresh Mexican & BBQ

      July 23, 2025

      Booze & Grub Reviews
      Falafel Hut

      July 12, 2025

      Booze & Grub Reviews
      McDonald’s (West Village)

      July 10, 2025

      Booze & Grub Reviews
      Seoul Bistro

      July 4, 2025

      Booze & Grub Reviews: NYC
      McDonald’s (West Village)

      July 10, 2025

      Booze & Grub Reviews: NYC
      CAVA – 350 Hudson

      June 19, 2025

      Booze & Grub Reviews: NYC
      Westville Hudson

      April 25, 2025

      Booze & Grub Reviews: NYC
      Five Guys – Midtown West

      January 25, 2025

      Booze & Grub Reviews: NYC
      Jaz Indian Cuisine

      December 23, 2024

      Booze & Grub Reviews: NYC
      Just Salad – Hudson Square

      November 13, 2024

      Booze & Grub Reviews: NJ
      Coda Kitchen & Bar

      July 29, 2025

      Booze & Grub Reviews: NJ
      Sweet T’s Southern Eatery – Montclair

      July 24, 2025

      Booze & Grub Reviews: NJ
      Tinga Fresh Mexican & BBQ

      July 23, 2025

      Booze & Grub Reviews: NJ
      Falafel Hut

      July 12, 2025

      Booze & Grub Reviews: NJ
      Seoul Bistro

      July 4, 2025

      Booze & Grub Reviews: NJ
      Ralph’s Pizzeria and Italian Restaurant

      June 27, 2025

      The NYC Booze & Grub Graveyard
      NYC Booze & Grub Graveyard: Gone Before Their…

      August 9, 2022

      The NYC Booze & Grub Graveyard
      The Press Box Restaurant & Pub

      August 3, 2021

      The NYC Booze & Grub Graveyard
      Natureworks – Midtown

      May 6, 2021

      The NYC Booze & Grub Graveyard
      The National Bar & Dining Rooms

      April 10, 2021

      The NYC Booze & Grub Graveyard
      Hillstone – Midtown

      March 5, 2021

      The NYC Booze & Grub Graveyard
      Connolly’s Pub & Restaurant – 5th Ave.

      February 12, 2021

      The NJ Booze & Grub Graveyard
      NJ Booze & Grub Graveyard: Gone Before Their…

      July 21, 2024

      The NJ Booze & Grub Graveyard
      Scala del Nonna

      February 15, 2023

      The NJ Booze & Grub Graveyard
      Diesel & Duke – Montclair

      January 30, 2023

      The NJ Booze & Grub Graveyard
      Maple Leaf Diner

      February 10, 2022

      The NJ Booze & Grub Graveyard
      Ruthie’s Bar-B-Q & Pizza

      September 14, 2021

      The NJ Booze & Grub Graveyard
      Junior’s Cheesesteaks & Shakes

      December 21, 2020

  • Randomness
    • Travel Reviews
    • Video Game Reviews
    • Product Reviews
    • Odd Finds
    • Diary