This was recommended by a friend after I read "A Fine Balance", another drama by an Indian novelist. The Namesake is different though, about an American born Bengali, the themes about family and tradition may be similar but it's a more accessible book, more about the American experience growing up Indian

I love the bits about college (and Ivy League nonetheless, Gogol attends Yale and Columbia, Lahiri herself went to Barnard), days I miss and reminisce about often

It reads so far like a coming of age story about an Ameriocan Born Indian, Gogol who cannot stand his name, his heritage but both increasingly become important as he grows older. The author adds uprooting themes such as growing up in a country where you're not a native, and paints a very colorful picture

The book has a good flow, an even structure that focuses on main phases of Gogol's life (his parents, upbringing, college, first love, etc..). I have to say some things are predictable, that sort of things (reading too much into details) are ruining some of my last novels

I can't say I loved it, it made me want to keep reading which is a high measure of a book for me. Some of it is a bit bland and boring, I understand the whole first generation in America thing, that whole name idea which is so central to the book proved a bit silly though


Like the Kite Runner, it is being adapted for the big screen with Kal Penn to play the title character, can he shed the Kumar in him? hehe. In fact as of Oct 2006, the movie is done and has screened at festivals, offical US release date March 9, 2007