The Namesake

By: Jhumpa Lahiri

Narrated by: Sarita Choudhury

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)

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 .

Nice story… Too quietly written…

Nice story, but a bit uneventful… Or should I say there were eventful moments, but they were so quietly written that I was unable to feel the drama.

Superb Narrator

This is novel is deeply moving. The narration brought out Lahiri's impeccably crafted imagery to such a degree that I visualized what was being described. So many times a great work of fiction falls flat in an audio form because of a poor narrator. Not this one! She was flawless.

Lacking

Story has the trials of new immigrants and the assimilation but it doesn’t go into depth. It feels like a daily diary that just lists what happened in that day. Certainly lacking in many ways and the ending just feels incomplete.
Narration is terrible, the accent seems forced and stereotypical. It distracts from the story.

A story of immigrant culture and love 

A gentle book describing two people from India, raising their two children in the United States. Their son has an issue with his name. He is the main character in the book. It is the saga of his life from birth, until the age of around 32. Blending in with two cultures is sometimes difficult project. Very much enjoyed the book. The narrator is fabulous.

Thoroughly Enjoyed This Story!

The Gangulis are the quintessential immigrant family. Each generation seems to the further removed for their roots and is shows the true penalty of assimilation.

I found this book to be a master class in imagery and setting. I loved being about to see the story unfold as I continued to read as well as feel like I was in the same room with each person.

Looking forward to reading her other works.