Book Review: The Namesake

The first time I heard about "The Namesake" was when Mira Nair was planning a film with this name in which Abhishek Bachchan was supposed to play Rani Mukherji's son (!). When I researched more about the movie did I come to know that The Namesake is a book written by Jhumpa Lahiri on which Mira Nair was making a movie. The movie starring Tabu, Irrfan and Kal Penn is out and has won rave reviews all over the world. I could not watch the movie in theatre, thanks to my Chicken pox. That's when I decided to grab a copy of the book. If not the movie, at least the book! And thus I started with the Namesake and to put it squarely, I was blown away with the book. I was literally sucked into the lives of Ashima, Ashoke and Gogol from the very first chapter itself and the it seemed as if I was there, witnessing the lives of these 3 principal characters over 3 decades. The story of the young Bengali couple (Ashima and Ashoke) coming over to the United States of America, getting attuned to the life and culture in the US, their dreams, hopes, aspirations, their children, their social life, their longing for India- all this and more have been effectively captured by Jhumpa in her evocative narrative style. The best thing about the Namesake is that you cannot single out a character as its protagonist. The novel easily switches over between the lives and thoughts of Ashoke, Ashima and Gogol. If it is about Ashoke's life, studies, job and dreams about children on one hand, it is also about Ashima's loneliness, coming to terms with an alien culture, social life and longing for India on the other. Half way through the book, Gogol takes centrestage with his own life, his dislike towards his name, his indifference towards his parents' attitude and culture and his inability to understand their thought process. This narrative style contributes effectively to the reader understanding the nuances and thought processes of each and every character in the book. The characters are real, identifiable and endearing, all at the same time. Jhumpa Lahiri made her mark as a writer with her Pulitzer prize winning collection of short stories- "The Interpreter of Maladies". With her first full fledged novel- "The Namesake"- she declares to one and all that she is definitely a writer to look out for. Great going, Jhumpa!