Rating: 
Summary: The Namesake
Review: I could hardly wait to read this book, given how much I enjoyed Interpreter of Maladies. Unfortunately, it seems as if Ms. Lahiri's talents lie in the short story. As enjoyable as living in Boston and riding on the Green Line while reading about it in her book was, most of this book was flat and tone-less; a short story forced into a novel's big shoes. Being a South-asian American woman myself, most of the events and characters are those out of my own life, but Ms. Lahiri's cultural references (ABCD etc.) are old and tired. This book may appeal to those seeking insight into the South Asian immigrant experience; the rest of the book is choppy and seems patched together with very frail thread.
My advice to all those who loved Interpreter of Maladies is to not read this book, as it will most likely be a disappointment.
Rating: 
Summary: The Namesake delivers
Review: A miraculous story about immigrants and their first-generation offspring in the United States. Never has the complexity of loneliness, possessing both elements of survival and defeat, manifest itself so patiently, so delicately, so (seemingly) effortlessly. Finally, there is an author of South Asian descent that firmly etches a place for the foreign experience into the canon of American literature. Do not put this one on your shelf as a future read! It flows so easily, but so hauntingly -- you won't put it down until it's done, and even still it will linger.
Rating:
Summary: Lahiri never ceases to amaze me!
Review: This book was amazing. I don't know if it's because I'm a Bengali-American girl myself who can empathize with Gogol's predicament of dealing with two names and thus two different personalities or if it's just because the story is a great read. Lahiri's small details are wonderful and at points I feel as if she was writing about people in my own family. Though at points the story seemed to move a little too fast and things ended without real explanations, overall the story didn't fail to keep me enthralled. This is the kind of novel I've been waiting for since I read her short stories in Interpreter of Maladies. It has it's moments of sadness and a whole lot of confusion but in the end, it leaves a good feeling in your heart. I would recommend this book to everyone, but especially to all the other second generation Indians out there who've felt like they've never quite fit in anywhere.
Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING
Review: This is the perfect novel. Jhumpa Lahiri has written a lyrical, wonderful novel. Her descriptions pull the reader into every scene without a wasted or extra word. This author won a Pulitzer for her first collection of short stories and there is no let down in her first novel. Buy this book and savor it.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing first novel
Review: I had high expectations, since her first book, a collection of short stories, won the Pulitzer Prize. My expectations were exceeded; I couldn't put it down. It's a riveting exploration of identity, relationships, alienation, family.
Rating:
Summary: Jhumpa Lahiri is Special
Review: I have never written a book review. But this author and this book deserve praise. Ms. Lahiri will likely receive thousands of letters from readers saying that she has given voice through her work to a feeling they have never been able to adequately describe. She captures a particular kind of solitude that comes from knowing that you are the child of an immigrant, maybe privileged and loved but always alone, separate and apart from your origins and your surroundings. Nothing ever seems to fit, even though nothing in particular may be wrong. A woman capable of this sort of writing and expression is a gift from whatever God it is you believe in. There is great beauty in this novel. The writing is clean and the characters make a home for themselves inside of you. At least they did so inside of me.
Rating: 
Summary: Kept turning the pages
Review: As soon as "The Namesake" was released, I put the other book(s) I was reading aside, bought it, and sat down to plow through it. I bought it and sat down, and found it difficult to get through. I kept hoping that a new chapter might bring a change of tone, but it was like watching a movie through gauze -- there is something there, but it takes too much of your own imagination and knowledge -- not enough information is given, and when it is, it is bland. After reading "The Interpreter of Maladies" and telling anyone who would listen what a terrific read that was, I was sure this would give me the same reason to gloat. The photo of Lahiri inside the back flap is telling -- she is very comfortable, living the luxe life, and seems to have been given license and no editorial guidance -- 3rd person through a whole book and almost no dialogue? If all the telling had been vivid, it could have worked. Having spent time in India, including Calcutta, I can only recall my own experiences for the picture. It is not painted here.
Rating: 
Summary: Stretching...
Review: You can't love a book as much as I loved Interpreter of Maladies and not seek out anything else by the author. Lahiri's new book, published in 2003, is a novel rather than a collection of short stories, and I can't help but note that despite my preference for the novel form, Lahiri was in the right line of work before. Namesake has moments of breathtaking beauty, and I enjoyed it-very much, in fact. Indeed, it feels like one of Lahiri's short stories about an Indian immigrant expanded to fill a novel, or even like a series of short stories about the same people, but disjointed. Rather than following a plot, Lahiri follows a life; this is a brave and admirable choice that causes the novel to meander just as a life does. My fear is that some readers will find it unexciting; Lahiri's stories each pack a punch within pages, but this is a slow burn. Still, well worth the time; you'll care deeply about the namesake by the time you're through.
Rating:
Summary: Time Pass
Review: This has to be one of the most boring stories I've ever read. I disliked it to the tone, to the speech, yes well prosed, that's about the only thing needing a compliment.. But I take that back to since I didn't appreciate that either..
A newly wed Bengali couple set foot into USA, it outlines and details their immigrant experiences and itz extremely dry, there's no life, nothing's happening, i'm turning pages, either its about frozen curry dinners or how she cooks rice and orange coloured gobi masala, and most of the book emnates the smell of spices.. Ashima the new bride, suffers from homesickness, misses her mother, dad, grandmother(whoz supposed to send a letter for naming their son, a letter which never arrives), followed by gogol's birth, a child who seeks out his identity... with his conventional Indian parents..
There's a lot of space and emptiness in the novel, the characters, unable to communicate with each other, keep the story moving. There are dead gaps, at which , a new girlfriend buts in.. To the author's credit, each character is more impressive than the other... .Neither of them are susceptible to change, they crave for India, all their friends are indians, in short it shows the Indians as a miserable and extremely unhappy race, stuck in their own minds, the kind that refuses to cooperate, living dreamily in a third world, which has little value for one's own existence..
Reading the novel did not make me homesick as my friends said it would. Maybe it's because I belong to the younger generation and I feel different and the older generation refused to adjust their pace of life. And literally no story, and Gogol at the end dosen't seem like hez been struck by a revelation, a dry dull lifeless existence, as in the motion of a train moving from one stop to another... NY and Boston.. Now if you're interested in knowing about curries and Indian diaspora read, else avoid. A dissapointing read..
Rating:
Summary: In a World of Dissonance
Review: I loved this book. Partially, because I am of South Asian descent, to me it felt like reading a part of my childhood in flowing, beautiful prose. I think a lot of the negative reviews that I've seen come from people who are probably not aware of what artists do, which is detail, description, and getting into a craft so deeply that it feels like breathing. I think, also, JL is one of those artists who enjoys asthetics and womanhood -- and also the sensual pleasures of everyday life. I found her description of Moushmi to be so womanly and just tinged with all the things women know to be true about their lives. As far as the climax question, there are many *types of writers, and not all of them are comfortable weaving murder, dramatic affairs, political commentary etc. into their narratives. Of course, will it go down a classic work? Probably not. But is it compelling for what it offers? It moved me, but I can understand how some may not enjoy this book -- or view it as slightly superficial. Which perhaps, sometimes, life is. But then, I don't think that anything visionary or grandiose is quite the style here, and the people who can see into the writing and story for it offers will find the classic, elegant restraint the Interpreter stories became a hallmark of.
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