Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful storytelling, compelling characters, textured
Review: I loved Interpreter of Maladies and went into reading The Namesake with high expectations...and they were fulfilled. I loved the "saga" quality of the book -- about 25 years in the life of this interesting character, Gogol. I was rapt throughout it, completely absorbed by the tale, by the themes of assimilation, otherness, identity, etc. I loved delving into Gogol and the other characters, particularly his mother, Ashima (I actually wished for a bit more about her -- the one thing I felt could have been strenghtened by Lahiri). I am so moved by Lahiri's writing style and the way she uses rich details to paint a scene, describe a character, convey emotion -- color, food, clothes, Bengali rituals and traditions, etc. Jhumpa Lahiri is one of my favorite fiction writers -- right up there with Toni Morrison, Michael Cunningham, Roddy Doyle, Arundhati Roy, Sena Jeter Naslund. I recommend this book to anyone who likes literature to live inside them.
Rating: 
Summary: Dissapointment
Review: Having read Interpreter of Maladies by Lahiri, I eagerly awaited her novel, The Namesake. Interpreter of Maladies was well-written, contained characters that drew the reader to them, and packed a lot of action in each short story.However, The Namesake was dissapointing. It is not as well-written as Interpreter of Maladies. The characters lack that something that draws the reader to care about them. The story is really a short story that has been stretched out to a novel lengh, filled in with unimportant detail. The story line is too predictable and there is little urgency in the writing. Where is the crisis to solve? If the main character dislikes his name so much, then he should change it. End of story. The bottom line: Read Interpreter of Maladies, enjoy a fine collection of short stories, but do not waste your time with The Namesake.
Rating: 
Summary: Good prose bad novel
Review: That Jhumpa Lahiri can write well is beyond dispute; I am strictly referring here to her language skills. Reading Namesake, I wonder whether she can write novels? whether she can write serious literature? My answer is a no, unless she strives to find her center. You wonder, why one has to ask these questions? You see, we are all following the career of a Pulitzer Winner!
Namesake, for its own sake, is a hyphed commodity. Both the author and her publisher are cashing in on the misguided theory that readers will be interested in delving into the dysfunctional, real or imagined, lives of Indian Americans. Ms. Lahiri has definitely misintrepreted her Pulitzer Prize to mean just that, since shades of the latter were also seen in Intrepreter of Maladies but are full blown here. In Namesake, you have no logical compass. You have a doting artist-father, who tries to arrange a marriage for his daughter with a widower, a handicapped person (no offense meant), and finally lands on Mr. Ganguly who goes on to get a PhD from MIT and becomes a Professor in The US. So much for arranged marriages!
Mr. Ganguly has no role in his own son's upbringing, nor does his house-bound wife. All Mr. Ganguly does is to tell his son once about the reason for naming him Gogol! Then, promptly, he is disposed off through a rude heart attack. Throughout the whole novel, you have a confused Gogol Ganguli, whose life and lifestyle you have to deal with. You also have to read through many details of food preparations, descriptions of all high-priced eating places; all the time wondering why these Indians eat this much meat! Things get really tasteless when you have to read about the imposed vegetarianism of Gogol, during his dad's funeral!
On the whole, you keep wondering time and again: does this all make sense? But you keep reading because Ms. Lahiri's language skills are good.
Rating:
Summary: Won't Leave My Head
Review: I haven't picked up a book in the 6 weeks since I finished this one, as I feel none will compare and since I still think about dear Gogol every day! I didn't imagine I would have liked a book better than Interpreter of Maladies, but this one surpasses it in that it is as good as some of the best stories from Lahiri's first book, but the reader gets to spend time with this character for 300 pages instead of just 10 or 20. I related to the main character in such a way, and I'm a 3rd generation American Caucasian woman. He has universal appeal in his struggles to fit in, identify himself, and experience happiness and meaning in life. I was cheering for him every step of the way, and you will too!
Rating:
Summary: whine and bore
Review: Lahiri deals with identity, a common problem with any immigrant group from anywhere to anywhere. To give an inept, philandering boy the suffering status of what is more akin to a refugee is laughable. Who on earth are these educated, capable but whiny cardboard people and why should we give them the time of day? Their paralyzing self-absorption is well served by Lahiri's simplistic and repetitive prose. ho hum.
Rating: 
Summary: this woman can WRITE
Review: it's the most addicitive book i've read in a long time. while i agree to a certain extent with the reviewer who says it lacks direction, the writing is so superb and the story so engrossing it's kind of hard to care. a noteworthy talent.
Rating:
Summary: Why Gogol? Why not Chekov?
Review: "The Namesake" is a quiet, beautifully written story of the emigrant experience. It is a bit uneven -- some parts seem to be more carefully written than other parts, though it's all good. Its episodic quality also made it seem at times more like a series of related short stories than a novel. It is also strangely serious. There is nothing wrong with writing a serious book, but in light of its seriousness I can't help being mystified by one question: Why Gogol? Why did Lahiri structure this conceit of the train wreck and the missing letter and the pet name around Gogol, of all people, who of all "the Russians" is the funniest, the one most alive to the absurdity as well as the tragedy of life, the man who might not have invented the unreliable narrator, but who got more mileage out of it than nearly anyone else? Gogol, the writer, is hilarious; Gogol Ganguli, despite having one of the funniest fictional names since Garp, takes himself far too seriously. I kept waiting for these two ideas to converge, for Gogol to learn to laugh at himself, but he never did. Maybe the joke is too subtle for me, and Lahiri is a more unreliable narrator than my imperfect reading can grasp?
Rating:
Summary: A worthy wait
Review: This is her second book and it was so much worth the wait. A definite short list at the pulitzer for this year, the book is all about American confused desi( country men). Very well written and beautiful description, it definitely is a great book. Its a story of a migrant couple from the slums of calcutta to the skyscrapers of boston and the various adjustments and confusions that go through the minds of the family. The mother trying to stick to the traditional values inspite of being in a western surrounding and her son Gogol, who is the soul of the book, trying to cope with the differant cultures enforced on to him. It portrays various ways in which an american indian looks at his homeland, sometimes he is ashamed, sometimes he wonders why the world thinks india is great but never does he feel proud of his homeland. And I wonder why, not just for Gogol but for the millions of confused desi living in america. And Jhumpa has understood this core very well, her style of writing is brilliant and there is no unwanted informations, nor does the book bore you at any point of time.
Rating:
Summary: A simple account of one person's unique experience
Review: Not having read Interpreter of Maladies, I went into The Namesake with no particular prejudice. I found her account of (one part of) one person's life (Gogol Nikhil Ganguli) meaningful and extraordinary. The characters are ordinary and believable, yet possess beauty and depth. Some wonder at the extraneous detail and lack of direction. In my opinion, I find that the diffuseness enhanced the realism of Gogol's experience. After all, there is a lot of meaning in life that does not fit neatly into arriving at one place. Excellent story!
Rating:
Summary: Phenomenal!!!!
Review: I enjoyed Interpreter of Maladies but absolultely fell in love with The Namesake. It was an accurate and beautiful reflection of the dualistic identity Asian Americans take on in the United States. It is in the details that Lahiri really reveals the beautiful and difficult truths of growing up as a first generation Indian. I highly recommend this book!!!
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