The Namesake

By: Jhumpa Lahiri

Narrated by: Sarita Choudhury

Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

The Namesake follows the Ganguli family through its journey from Calcutta to Cambridge to the Boston suburbs. Ashima and Ashoke Ganguli arrive in America at the end of the 1960s, shortly after their arranged marriage in Calcutta, in order for Ashoke to finish his engineering degree at MIT. Ashoke is forward-thinking, ready to enter into American culture if not fully at least with an open mind. His young bride is far less malleable. Isolated, desperately missing her large family back in India, she will never be at peace with this new world.

Soon after they arrive in Cambridge, their first child is born, a boy. According to Indian custom, the child will be given two names: an official name, to be bestowed by the great-grandmother, and a pet name to be used only by family. But the letter from India with the child's official name never arrives, and so the baby's parents decide on a pet name to use for the time being. Ashoke chooses a name that has particular significance for him: on a train trip back in India several years earlier, he had been reading a short story collection by one of his most beloved Russian writers, Nikolai Gogol, when the train derailed in the middle of the night, killing almost all the sleeping passengers onboard. Ashoke had stayed awake to read his Gogol, and he believes the book saved his life. His child will be known, then, as Gogol.

Lahiri brings her enormous powers of description to her first novel, infusing scene after scene with profound emotional depth. Condensed and controlled, The Namesake covers three decades and crosses continents, all the while zooming in at very precise moments on telling detail, sensory richness, and fine nuances of character.

©2003 Jhumpa Lahiri (P)2003 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a Division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"This production is a treat for the sheer combination of Lahiri's striking, often enchanting descriptions and Choudhury's graceful rendering of them." ( Publishers Weekly)
"This poignant treatment of the immigrant experience is a rich, stimulating fusion of authentic emotion, ironic observation, and revealing details." ( Library Journal)
"This is a fine novel from a superb writer." ( The Washington Post)
"An effortless and self-assured bildungsroman that more than delivers on the promise of... Interpreter of Maladies." ( Book Magazine)

Wonderful.

Enjoyed this book; the well written characters and the way they make the reader feel at home with them, not as if one is actually reading a book. A sense of presence.

Hit Home

Wow! I'm a Bengali immigrant from India. It's amazing on how may levels this book hit home. While Jhumpa Lahiri explores the challenges of being an immigrant and the conflicts that arise from being born to immigrant parents, she provides intimate and unromanticized insight into the wonders of a bi-cultural experience. Nice!

Coming of age story

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story about two generations of Bengali-Americans. Gogol, the main character, is born in the United States to Bengali immigrants. We follow him as he grows into a young man. As he grows up fails to understand the traditions of his Bengali parents. He even rejects the name they gave him. He is thoroughly American, but as he matures, his acceptance of his parents, their community, and his heritage grows. In many ways, the theme is similar to that in some of Amy Tan's writings about Chinese immigrants and their American born children. The difference is that the reconciliation between elder and adult child comes not through voyages or fantastic stories, but through the normal, believable experiences of parents and children living in the U.S. The narration is superb, with each character having a uniquely identifying voice and/or accent.

Very Enjoyable Read

I very much enjoyed this book. I thought it was well written and well narrated. I hope Audible has more of her work available in the future.

A delight to anyone who comes across this book

The Namesake is a well written story by Jhumpa Lahiri and wonderfully narrated by Sarita Choudhury.

It is a story of an immigrant family, growing up in a culture clash. But there is a twist, a novel idea to this story. It is about the boy's name. The Ganguly family names their son by circumstances and how it evolves in the story is very well depicted. I especially love the ending of the story. Kudos to Lahiri who does a fine job of portraying every element of the story with finesse and warmth. Each character touches your heart and falls correctly in the story.

A Bengali couple immigrating from India to Boston. MA. How they adjust to the new life in the US and the upbringing of their son GOGAL. Coming from a similar background, I could relate to the story quite a bit. It a warm and touching story and sure to delight everyone who comes across this book.

- uday K

Enjoyable

interesting to share a different culture. Story unexpected, well written and reader has a pleasing voice.

A Name Not to be Forgotten

Lahiri is a magnificently artful writer and captures the essence of what it means to be an immigrant in The Namesake. In this novel, the reader (or listener) follows a family of immigrants and their son Gogol, named after the writer Nikolai Gogol. Gogol wrestles with what it means to be an Indian, an American and named after a Russian. The reader swells with his successes and cringes at his failures all while feeling endeared to the family which he simultaneously clings to and runs from.

The audio book is of excellent quality and the narrator speaks clearly and with ease, allowing the audience to become engrossed by Lahiri's careful crafting of the English language.

Loved the story, not the reading.

I assigned this story for summer reading and I have fallen deeply in love with it. I know this is a book I will return to time and time again. The presentation was flat and left much to be desired, but the story itself was so captivating I was able to overlook the faults.

Engrossing

I couldn't stop listening. The story and characters drew me in. I couldn't stop thinking about it. Jhumpa Lahiri is a wonder.

good read

I enjoyed this novel and the different perspectives of each characters . Thought provoking. Recommend by World Relief .