Rating: 
Summary: The Namesake: Superb Storytelling
Review: With her first novel, Jhumpa Lahiri successfully adapts her writing skills from the short story with the same narrative style that reveals parts of the story through a very specific lens. I find what may be construed as gaps or under developed characterization as the very reason why the story triumphs. Lahiri seems to go out of her way to flood the reader with physical details of her charcters' surroundings and so-called patterns in everyday life, and the focus on such details builds a subtle connection with the reader and characters, based on strong feelings of identification. One may think he/she knows the destiny of the Namesake, Gogol, but may be surprised to discover the outcome in his love life. He is, however, always drawn back to his roots--his father and mother, which I find to be poignantly honest. He may be considered the main character in this novel, but his father and mother are its origins, and Lahiri does a fine job bringing them to life throughout. These familial ties are what holds the story together. Certainly, I am moved by Gogol's life as an adult in New York, as well as mystified by the complicated nature of Moushumi, but the scenes with his parents, both together and alone, are what truly captivate, painting daily struggles with purpose and happiness. When Gogol arrives in Ohio by himself, a momentous turning point lifts and sets the novel in another direction, for the better. For me, Gogol's identity lies mostly with his family, and Lahiri's storytelling honors this.
Rating: 
Summary: Maybe she's just better at short stories...
Review: "The Namesake," by the pulitzer prize winning author of "Interpreter of Maladies," is a gorgeously written novel of an Indian family transplanted to America. Lahiri knows her material--she lovingly re-creates Bengali culture, famous for its cuisine and hospitality. She very convincingly portrays the "outsider" in an alien culture, especially through Ashima, Gogol's mother. And her prose is wonderful.
But....I agree with many that this book is more like a string of stories held together by a common character, rather than an integrated whole. Lahiri creates a time and place with breathtaking detail and draws us in--an example is Ashoke's train ride, where he is saved only because someone notices the soft sound of the pages of his book, fluttering in the breeze. Or take the "Maxine" section--Lahiri recreates a sort of WASP heaven, from the magnificent townhouse in New York, the cocktails, the conversations over dinner, to the New Hampshire "camp" deep in the woods with its shabby mismatched decor. But then it just ends--and Gogol moves on, seemingly untouched by the experience. The same with his marriage--we are totally caught up with how this pair meets and falls in love--suddenly we are left puzzled when it ends abruptly out of nowhere.
Lahiri is a wonderful writer and her Pulitzer was well-deserved. The novel falls a little short--but maybe we think so only because the "Interpreter" stories are so great. This author is certainly worth watching as she develops.
Rating:
Summary: Very fine book about a first-generation American
Review: I loved this book. Jhumpa is a graceful writer and an absolutely effortless storyteller. Her plotting is so uncontrived and her pacing so natural that you barely notice that a novel is being constructed. I actually don't think she is a natural novelist -- in a way, "The Namesake" is more like a group of intimately linked short stories -- but that's more a description, not a critique. I haven't read "Interpreter of Maladies" but, after "The Namesake," absolutely intend to. Lahiri is such a gifted writer that her work demands attention.About the content, I am a first-generation American of European parents and I found some of the descriptions of Gogol's experiences extremely telling, thought-provoking and moving. In fact, I had strong identification with many of Gogol's experiences and feelings. The book made a big impression on a personal level. I think many first generation or foreign-born Americans will, too.
Rating:
Summary: engaging, but not riveting
Review: the namesake pulled me in quickly, and kept me there- but it was due to lahiri's lovely prose, more than the actual story. gogol, the main character slides through life (as it appears on the page), and things just happen to him- it's as if he is inactive in his role as main character and fictional human being. once i closed the book i felt gogol might take on a presence of his own... still, for such an inactive main character, the book has a quiet grace- not often found anywhere.
Rating: 
Summary: Can it stand the test of time ?
Review: I think not. I got a sense that this book is written more as a travelogue than a real work of art. Some detail of indian way of life is mentioned, obviously not for indians, but to woo the western audience. These are observations more befitting a travelogue.
The prose is effortless to read, and the novel is a page tuner. But, again I don't think it is of a high cailbre. Let me explain, real art is mostly imaginative, it spell bounds the reader with its imaginative flair. Here, you are left with a feeling that the author is basically rehashing her experiences and the characters she knows in real life into to hotch potch interesting ancedotes. It might be the best work ever to come from the author now or in the future, the work has certain clarity and beauty, but brilliant it is not.
Rating:
Summary: Life in Literature
Review: This book isn't going to shock you or make you sweat every time you turn the page, but it made me cry and I think that's important. It really is life in Literature, there are all these moments that we take for granted in life and Lahiri paints the picture so beautifully that you just go "Oh man, I never thought of just how great that part of life really is." I'm not even sure there is a climax to this book, but it is so easy to understand and relate to I don't care. It's a beautiful book and worth a read as long as you don't need the book to do something specific (like a type of genre) I would highly recommend it. I took off a star because I don't feel the need to read it again, but it touched me and as a reader that's all that matters.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome Read
Review: This book was amazing! I couldn't put it down. The characters played out in my head like a movie and I almost thought I knew them.
Rating:
Summary: The Importance of "Names"
Review: As Bengalis, Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli rarely use each other's "good names," the formal first name that appears on birth certificates, diplomas, and marriage licenses. Instead, they use the pet name bestowed upon each Bengali shortly after birth, the one that is used exclusively by family and friends (which may be a real name or a silly, onomatopoeic nickname). The good name is too momentous, too significant to be used, or chosen, lightly. So, when Ashoke and Ashima, newly transplanted to the United States, learn that they are expecting a child, they ask the family matriarch to select a name for their baby and send it to them in a letter. Nobody else will know the chosen name until afterward. Months pass, and the letter fails to appear; it seems it's been lost in the mail. Initially, the Gangulis aren't too worried, because Bengalis often aren't officially named for months or even years; but the American system demands a name immediately. Meanwhile, the great-grandmother has fallen severely ill, and is in no state to reveal baby names. Running out of time, Ashoke names his son "Gogol," after his favorite Russian writer, a name that has immense personal significance to him. But to young Gogol, the name is a burden, a disfigurement, an ugly reminder of the many differences between him and his peers. As he grows up, Gogol embarks on a bitter love-hate relationship with his name; he loathes it, he denies it, he tries to escape it. Only when Gogol has made peace with his ethnic background and his family's traditions can he learn to accept his identity. Lahiri, known for her critically adored short-story collection The Interpreter of Maladies, makes her debut as a novelist with this work. Her writing is understated and simple, but beautifully evocative and filled with sensory detail. Though much is necessarily omitted in a story that covers several decades in under three hundred pages, Lahiri chooses her words deftly, focusing on quotidian scenes of startling intimacy to make the reader feel close to the characters. Which is not to say her characters are incomplete or undeveloped; though more development would be welcome, the characters still feel well-thought-out and complex, and their relationships with each other are believable and sympathetic. Focusing on themes of displacement and foreignness, and the bewildering and alienating process of assimilating into a new society, The Namesake is powerful and genuine, blending humor and drama into a realistic portrait of a family. Given their struggle to retain their heritage while becoming fully integrated into their new country, and the resulting confusion of identity that trickles down the generations, what is, perhaps, most surprising in the end is how all-American the Gangulis really are. This a wonderful book that I wholeheartedly recommend along with another recent novel (and Amazon.com purchase!), THE LOSERS' CLUB by Richard Perez
Rating: 
Summary: A half hearted disapointing work
Review: I am very disappointed after reading this book, especially after really liking her previous book - Interpreter of Maladies. Only worth of this book are few fleeting moments. I wonder a character can be only developed with a series of obsessions. I can't get the obsession with the name Gogol. Btw, Gogol is a very common Bengali pet name. The name doesn't not have any specific meaning, but I guess the name originated as the hybridized form of "gol" "gol" (Gol means circular. And since the well nourished children tend to be little plump due to higher lactose content, their parents lovingly abbreviates them in that way, which is also phonetic). Ironically, I have a cousin whose pet name is Gogol, but I don't think his parents ever read Russian literature. Her description regarding Calcutta is pretty much old fashioned, a typical oriental notion. It's not that everything in Calcutta is pretty. Her narration tells that she had very old memories and probably little stretched with naïve imagination. I simply don't understand why she had to place the part that Ashima's parents were trying to arrange marriage for her with a Widower with six children and later a handicap. I am not sure that parents in 60's are so impatient to get her daughter married by any means, and typically of the middle class that is portrayed. It's too much of the contrived realism. Also the first love affair of Gogol ends abruptly. "Things has changed" - and really the focus of the narration changes within a matter of a paragraph. The episode of dad telling the story of the train accident, and the pages from Overcoat that saved his life, and consequently the name Gogol for his son, and Gogol's experience of an emotional attachment for his father misfortune, is somehow introduced out of blue, and may be with the ambition of turning the story around when Gogol finally will end up attracted to Mikholai Gogol's work. This is like end of the story, written in well advance, and the remaining pieces area fit as it suits the end. One of the most celebrated chapter is the Gogol's New York life, when he fall in love with an American girl. The contrast is developed well, his subtle discomfort with the contrast. But again the end is abrupt, and there is no focus on his mental complexity. Like it has to end. I like her writing style. But I think the book is written too hurriedly and little emphasis in developing the character, like chasing a deadline. Few sections and descriptions are very good, but as a whole this a disappointing work.
Rating:
Summary: beyond borders
Review: I take offense to a prior reviewer who summarized this novel is an immigrant experience. Yes, that may be the scenario the novel is situated in. But the issues it deals with in terms of relationships, the twenty-something identity crisis, and the clash betwen cultures, traditions, morality and traditional and liberal viewpoints can be identified in any culture or part of the world. Being Bengali, in my mid-twenties, and growing up on the East Coast and sharing the nickname of the main character - made the novel hit close to home. Jhumpa Lahiri has amazingly stated details which have previously been private incidents and experiences that one keeps to themselves. The best thing I like about the novel is that it captures the wavering mind that dictates progression in one's love life, career and aspirations. The vivid description of an encounter on a train in a realistic fashion, where one finds it conceivable is an example of the reality base the novel conforms to. If you are Indian and have an indentity crisis, this is a must read - if not, its a must read just to gain a perspective as to the real lives of Gernation X'ers.
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