Wednesday, November 14, 2007

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

What does your name mean to you? How does it define who you are?

For Gogol Ganguli his name is significant. He should have originally been named by his grandmother but unfortunately the letter never arrived from India to his parents in Boston. So his father chooses Gogol. Gogol doesn't like being named Gogol--it's different. When he's older he changes his legal name to Nikhil which confuses his family, his friends and the ones who know him by Gogol. He doesn't learn the significance of his name until he's older from his father. He's known that he was named after Nikolai Gogol, but wasn't sure why. Guess you'll have to read it to figure it out.

The book was easy to read--Lahiri has a way with words. She won the Pulitzer for "Interpreter of Maladies", a great collection of short stories. I really enjoyed her writing and can't wait to see what she brings us next.

One thing I didn't know was that Indian food is all eaten without silverware. I didn't know that at all. I guess the only Indian restaurant I've been to served food with utensils. maybe it wasn't truly authentic after all. :)

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