The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
Lahiri is barely more than three decades old herself, and
won a Pulitzer prize for her short-story collection Interpreter of Maladies.
It's easy to see why. She has a talent - magical, sly, cumulative - that most
writers would kill for. Peer closely at any single sentence, and nothing about
it stands out. But step back and look at the whole and you're knocked out.
The Namesake opens, Ashima Ganguli is a young bride who
is about to deliver her first child in a hospital in Massachusetts. Her
husband, Ashoke, is an engineering student at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT). Ashoke had traveled back to Calcutta to find a wife. Ashima,
who comes from a traditional Bengali/Indian family, had little choice in the
matter. As she prepares to give birth, she realizes how isolated she has
become. If she were still in Calcutta, she would have her baby at home,
surrounded by all the women in her family who would administer all the proper
Bengali ceremonies and would tell her what to expect.
Moushumi and Gogol are attracted to one another and
eventually are married. However, by the end of their first year of marriage,
Moushumi becomes restless. She feels tied down by marriage and begins to regret
it. He also feels like a poor substitute for Graham. Eventually, Moushumi has
an affair with Dimitri, an old acquaintance, the revelation of which leads to
the end of their marriage. With Sonia preparing to marry her fiance, an
American named Ben, Gogol is once again alone. He is nonetheless comforted by
the fact that Ashoke, prior to his death, finally told his son why he had
chosen that name for him. Gogol comes to accept his name and picks up a
collection of the Russian
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