Rating: 
Summary: Another stellar performance
Review: I read this 6 months after having my first child and it touched me deeply. I think that those who have written about this in terms of it being a negative Indian experience have missed the point. This is a book about family and trying to fit in to a different culture. Something you do not have to be of Indian descent to relate to. I recommend this especially to those who have had children because it is in touch with the the emotions and struggles of parenthood. This contains all the detailed description of "Interpreter of Maladies" and the reality of life that Jhumpa Lahiri is able to portray so accurately. Read this book!
Rating:
Summary: The namesake
Review: Terrific! Great! Superb! This woman knows how to write. I am planning to read every single books that she will publish in the future. What a treasure to be able to read such beautiful prose. In the end, I was as sad for Gogol as I would have been for a dear friend.
Rating: 
Summary: Compelling, but Maladies is better
Review: Lahiri's command of the English language never ceases to amaze me. This novel is, like Interpreter of Maladies, very well written, using economical words that give the novel an excellent flow.
Lahiri develops Gogol so completely that one cannot help but identify with him. He is the embodiment of the feelings everyone has had about his or her family and self at one point or another. The expereinces he goes through are unique to that of a child of immigrant parents, but Lahiri has the knack for making him accessible to all who share his journey.
Ashima is my favorite character because of her journey into strength as she acclimates into the American culture.
The story was fairly predictable, and at times I felt like nothing was happening. Having said that, I was still completely captivated by Lahiri's character development and prose; both kept me reading. I think that perhaps she is a better short story writer than novelist.
Rating:
Summary: Bittersweet sadness in this modern immigrant story
Review: This is an immigrant story. It starts in 1968 when Gogol Ganguli is born in a Boston suburb. His mother, Ashima, misses her homeland terribly and there is an awkward distance between her and her husband as it had been an arranged marriage and they are just getting used to each other. Gogol's father, Ashoke, was in a terrible train accident in his youth and he feels his life was saved because he happened to be reading a book by the Russian author, Gogol. As the book develops we see how this name impacts the young boy's life as we watch him grow up in America.When Gogol is a child, he and his class visit an historic graveyard and he realizes that this is not an Indian custom and that when he dies, he will have his body cremated instead of buried. Later, we watch him and his younger sister hate the infrequent trips to Calcutta with his parents. We share his romances as he goes to college and then out into the business world. His family is delighted when he marries an Indian woman. But all does not work out the way it was planned. This is a simple book, tracing the life of this particular family and making their experience of adjusting to American life one of our own. Somehow, the writer is able to put us into the skin of her characters as they go through the process of Americanization. It is all so different from their roots. And there are pitfalls and stumbles along the way. The writer exhibits a mastery of using the perfect details to create a feeling that echoes throughout the novel. There's a bittersweet sadness as it chronicles a story that has been played out again and again -- loneliness for the old world and gradual assimilation into the new. Jhumpa Lahiri's short stories won a Pulitzer Prize in 2000. This is her first novel. I found it wonderful and look forward to reading more of her work in the future. Definitely recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Indian Women Writers' Rule
Review: The last decade has been an especially fecund one for Indian women writers and Jhumpa Lahiri is one of the best. The new book only serves to underline her exceptional talent. Indian women writers I would unreservedly recommend include Arundhati Roy, Bharati Mukherjee and Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. But maybe it's unfair to segregate writers by gender so let me list my favourite books in recent times by Indian men -- these would have to include A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie, The House of Blue Mangoes by David Davidar and Transplanted Man by Sanjay Nigam. Maybe my title for this appreciation should have read Indian Writers' Rule. More power to them anyway.
Rating: 
Summary: Played nice but Safe
Review: It might be harsh to expect Lahiri to achieve the same type of EXCELLENCE as of her short stories in this long novel. To be fair, though, this novel was a bit disappointing even without the expectation dragged from her 'previous record'.
The trouble about the novel was that it was stretched and dragged unnecessarily; her signiture style of the'stunning developments' was lost this time. The other dullness this novel sufferred for was that the way Gogol was portraied as a second generation Bengali-Indian-American was too stereotypical,safe and boring, TOO LACKLUSTER and unattractive. There seemed to be no risk of representation Lahiri took to create the minority character in the Euro-centric society, either, as her double. Although it still maintained another Lahiri's feature qualities such as very well structured sentences and insightful perspectives that literally saved the whole story and I found this work as whole not only just readable but adorable and warm, this was somehow mediocre or a bit worse job than that to me. This can be what happens when safety is put first. It seems like every ethnic writer initially in their career has to submit this type of 'moderately comfortable minority representation'work as thier assignment to get to an advance level, where they are finally allowed to write something that transcends their ethnic background and be creative and original(only if they want to (even if it does not appeal much to wider audiences).
I hope Lahiri has enough guts to refuse to live up to the tokenism that is well prevailed in the publishing industry and restore her creativity to write more shortstories, which she seems to be better at.
Rating:
Summary: A very talented writer and a very good book
Review: I started listening to this book and couldn't stop. Her prose is so clear and her characters are touching. Gogol was a great character. His lack of a sense of belonging in either Bengali or America was so clearly delineated. I disagree with an earlier reviewer that secondary characters were not fully developed.This is a book I will long remember ane will read again. This is an entire new branch of literature, the American experience through Indian eyes.
Rating: 
Summary: admirable if you have yet to read her anthology
Review: There is no denying that Jhumpa is a captivating story teller, as I completed reading this book within three hours of getting my hands on it. However, citing empirically from "Interpreter of Maladies" and now from Namesake, I say that thus far, Jhumpa lacks in diversity. Elements from several of her shorts stories, mainly, "Sexy", "Interpreter of Maladies", "A Temporary Matter", and "Interpreter of Maladies" mushroom throughout her novel. I concur, that this novel reads more like a short story. There is definitely a theme. It flows nicely like a dulcet song. However, from Jhumpa, I expected something different. I wanted to say "WOW" as I did when I completed her short stories. I was denied that opportunity. However, I have no quandaries that Jhumap will soon give me that "WOW", and I will not be the least bit surprised if there is arleady intrigue amongst directors to bring her vivid stories to the big screen. Jhumpa, if you're reading this, I'm still looking forward to that "WOW".
Rating:
Summary: A story well told
Review: The story that Jhumpa Lahiri tells in this novel is simple but the emotions she tries to portray through her charcaters are complex. Jhumpa is exceedingly insightful at some points in the novel & this is what makes it special. The loneliness of the Ganguli couple, who arrive in the US as newly-weds and build a life of their own in the foreign land is touching. Their stubbornness in retaining their 'Indianness' is endearing at times. But their son, the protagonist of the story comes to resent it. In his efforts to fit in the American way, in his rebellion against his parents and in his lack of any real identity, Gogol grows confused and awkward of his being. He finally falls in love with another second generation indian; but soon finds out that with their common origins and familiar ways they both have also inherited the common resentment of their alien ancestry. Although some of the characters are sketchy and their relationship with the protagonist comes out as superficial, The Namesake is a story well told.
Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: Possibly the most endearing and moving book I have read. I borrowed it from the library but I will buy my own copy and I know I will reread it (something I never do). I savor every page, every description, every minute details. I haven't been able to think about much else since I started reading this book. I do not want it to end, but the remaining stack of pages is getting slimmer. Some reviewers have complained about a lack of plot, arc, or even (gasp) action...how misguided! This is a book about the serpentine paths of life and the author shows an intimate knowledge and sensitivity about all aspects of the life cycle. One does not have to be Indian to relate to the feelings and situations of the characters-I am from Western Europe and many situations in the book validates my (sometimes) uneasy feelings and my own experiences, among others, the managment of relationships abroad --situations that US citizens whose family members are scattered across different states would be able to deeply relate to as well. No matter where one is from, the slices of life presented in the superb, flowing prose of Ms. Jhumpa should enthrall anyone interested in the human condition. I am waiting eagerly for Ms. Jhumpa's next novel.
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