The Namesake (Paperback)

The Namesake Book Description

About the Book :

When her grandmother learned of Ashima's pregnancy, she was particularly thrilled at the prospect of naming the family's first sahib. And so Ashima and Ashoke have agreed to put off the decision of what to name the baby until a letter comes…'

For now, the label on his hospital cot reads simply BABY BOY GANGULI. But as time passes and still no letter arrives from , American bureaucracy takes over and demands that 'baby boy Ganguli' be given a name. In a panic, his father decides to nickname him 'Gogol' – after his favourite writer.

Brought up as an Indian in suburban , Gogol Ganguli soon finds himself itching to cast off his awkward name, just as he longs to leave behind the inherited values of his Bengali parents. And so he sets off on his own path through life, a path strewn with conflicting loyalties, love and loss…

About the Author :

Jhumpa Lahiri was born 1967 in London, England, and raised in Rhode Island. She is a graduate of Barnard College, where she received a B.A. in English literature, and of Boston University, where she received an M.A. in English, M.A. in Creative Writing and M.A. in Comparative Studies in Literature and the Arts, and a Ph.D. in Renaissance Studies. She has taught creative writing at Boston University and the Rhode Island School of Design. Her debut collection, Interpreter of Maladies, won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. It was translated into twenty-nine languages and became a bestseller both in the United States and abroad. In addition to the Pulitzer, it received the PEN/Hemingway Award, the New Yorker Debut of the Year award, an American Academy of Arts and Letters Addison Metcalf Award, and a nomination for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Lahiri was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2002. The Namesake is Jhumpa Lahiri's first novel. She lives in New York with her husband and son.

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•   By Saranya Manoharan 27 Apr 2012
  Lucid, Picture-like Quality

  When one reads this book, it feels like one is watching the events unfold in front of them. It is the story of thousands of Indian Americans in the US. Even though the focus is on Gogol Ganguli, the author take us for a ride through the lives of a few other characters, that we end up feeling sympathetic for every one of them. The culture conflicts are dealt with in a non-judgemental way. It has to be appreciated. Bottomline: Worth buying!

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•   By Saurabh Parikh 08 Dec 2009
  A captivating read

  I read the book titled 'The Namesake' after Jhumpa Lahiri won the Pulitzer for her first novel published in the year 2000.This is an awesome read and to think that this book was her debut novel is surely something. Kudos to the writer for this fabulous book!

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