The Namesake | Jhumpa Lahiri | Thoughts

 I have been meaning to read this book for a long time. And after ultimately reading the book, I decided to skip the review part. So here are just some thoughts.

 

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The book is beautiful. Period. As soon as I started reading this book I knew that this is one of those books that I’ll carry with myself wherever I go. This book will be my forever companion if I ever go outside my country.

 

Being a bengali, this book is extremely nostalgic, and feels like an extension of myself. Even though miles apart, there’s something about the story, the characters, and the execution of the subject of the novel, that draws me closer. It brings out the best and the worst of immigrating to the USA, and never shies away to adore as well as criticize the goods and bads of the bengali culture in a naked way.

 

Now, lets come to Gogol. To be honest, I didn’t entirely like Gogol in the beginning. It was a love hate relationship, but somehow my love for the character matured gradually just as he did throughout the book. He is the dashing & intelligent, brooding & emotional young ‘bengali’ gentleman whose entire life has been guided by tragedies.

 

The Namesake is a realistic slice-of-life embodiment of the ‘American dream’, wrapping the undeniable link to one’s heritage that defines the individual’s existence and identity.

 

The best thing about the book? The Namesake celebrates the bengali culture as something that cannot be bound by the geographical or political borders. It portrays how the bengali cultural identity transcends nationalities and mere regional boundaries. Because, like very few cultural identities, being born a bengali doesn’t bind you to a single place, but makes you free instead - with no boundaries, ‘Asima’. 

(Well, there's more to this interpretation obviously. For example, the author Jhumpa Lahiri has stated in her afterword that "change and becoming" is a dominant theme of the book. But I decided to focus on this aspect of the book, beacuse I believe it is extremely essential for our generation to remember and honor our heritage, while not denying our original identity in the quest of becoming someone else.)