Gogol Ganguli regrets his parents decision of giving him his humiliating name ever since he was born. But when we rewind to 1968, we see the newly immigrated Gangulis’ give birth to a baby boy and in order to be released from the hospital, they must break their Bengali culture and give their son an official name, which they decide to be Gogol. Growing up, Gogol hates his name, but once he learns of its origin he rethinks its meaning and after a life-changing incident, Gogol learns to embrace his culture and his family heritage. Bringing you on a journey of love, self- realization, and of a life or death situation, The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri is an amazing novel and I found it super interesting to me because it related so much to how I grew up. There are many suspenseful and attention grabbing parts and I highly recommend it. I had to read this book for an assignment, but I ended up loving it, except for some boring parts especially in the first few chapters since it's just introduction. I recommend this book to those who have an interest in cross-cultural conflict books, but most people in my class disliked it so I’m assuming it wasn’t interesting to them.
Reviewer Grade: 10