"The Namesake," by Jhumpa Lahiri

Pet names, or daknam as they would say in Bengali, are very sacred to the Bengali culture. It is the name by which only those close to the person refer to them as and they serve as a reminder of one’s childhood and of the fact that life isn’t always so serious. Every pet name however, is paired with a good name. A good name is one used on official documents and serves as identification for the world outside of Bengali culture. When a letter containing the name for Ashima’s first born child gets lost in the mail, she has no other choice but to put his pet name as his good name on his birth certificate. This one decision shapes Gogol’s future and how he views Bengali culture as an Indian-American living in Massachusetts. Throughout the book we watched how Gogol comes to terms with and learns how to accept and embrace his culture while living in America. The Namesake is a Pulitzer Prize winning novel that was written by Jhumpa Lahiri in 2003. Jhumpa Lahiri is an American novelist whose works highlight the experiences immigrant families go through when settling into a new country. Lahiri was born in London to Indian parents from West Bengal. When her father was offered a job as a university librarian at MIT, her parents moved to the United States. Originally they only planned to stay for a few years however, they ended up settling and staying in Rhode Island. As an Indian-American, Lahiri struggled with her identity. She didn’t feel as connected to India as her parents were, and she didn’t feel connected to America, even though she was born there. She eventually moved to Rome, where she decided to settle and create a family as she continued to write (https://www.neh.gov/about/awards/national-humanities-medals/jhumpa-lahiri). Her most recent release is titled Roman Stories (2023), her first short story collection in 15 years. 

The book begins with Gogol, an Indian-American boy, being born in Massachusetts. As Gogol grows older and enters elementary school he is faced with a tough decision. He must choose between being referred to as the name his parents call him at home or the nickname his parents told his teacher. This one decision affects him for the rest of his life and is often a memory he looks back upon and regrets. As Gogol grows older he must navigate the world while balancing the Bengali traditions his parents present and his Americanized mindset. Gogol struggles with discovering who he really is and what he wants to be known as in the world. As the lines between his American and Bengali side start to blur, Gogol learns the truth of where his name came from, leading him to respect his parents choice of naming even if it’s too late to turn back. At the beginning of the book Gogol is a young boy who seems to be having trouble with accepting his name. His teachers struggle to pronounce it correctly as do his friends, leading him to feel insecure about it. He tells his friends at school to refer to him as a different name, Nikhil. At home Gogol is surrounded by Bengali traditions but the minute he steps into the school building, he becomes Nikhil, your average American boy. His taste in music, his food preferences, his eating habits are all influenced by the American culture around him. This is only the beginning of Gogol slowly distancing himself from his Bengali heritage. Towards the middle of the book, Gogol decides to legally change his name to Nikhil the summer before he heads to Yale for college. He does this in hopes of having a fresh start in college, where no one knows him as Gogol, only as Nikhil. When the judge asked Gogol why he wanted to change his name he couldn’t find a way to explain how his Bengali culture and a mistake he made when he was in elementary school has haunted him his whole life, so he settled with saying he simply hated his name. At home he’s still called Gogol by family but at college, he’s Nikhil, your typical average college student. He tries to fit in and participate in American culture like frat parties and dating outside his culture, which only disappoints his family. At the end of the book, prior to his fathers death of a heart attack, Gogol finally learns where his name truly comes from. His father tells him of the train crash he experienced and how a book by a Russian Author named Nikolai Gogol essentially saved his life. After losing his father, Gogol breaks up with his American girlfriend and returns home to Massachusetts in hopes of reconnecting with his Bengali heritage. He later marries a Bengali woman whom he met as a child but his marriage ultimately ends when discovering his wife’s affair. Following the ending of his marriage, Gogol decides he no longer wants to fit in with American standards and returns to what he’s always known, Bengali culture. When his mother decides to sell the Massachusetts family home and move back to India, Gogol throws her a going away party. He invites all of the Bengali friends his parents made while in America and holds a traditional Bengali party. When Gogol enters his room for the last time, he discovers the book his father had once gifted him, the same book that saved his fathers life. He decides to give the book a read, finally accepting his name and who he is.

I enjoyed how I could find a common connection to this book as I read it. As a kid who was born in America to Caribbean parents from Jamaica, this book reminds me of my family a little bit. I often find myself shying away from Jamaican culture as it wasn’t something I necessarily grew up in. Even when speaking with family members in Jamaica I find myself feeling like an outcast, not having the same childhood experiences as them. Traveling to a country that’s not my home, I often feel like a foreigner so I could relate a bit to Gogol struggling with traveling to his parents home country. If you find yourself struggling with your identity then I definitely recommend giving this book a read. This book doesn’t shame those who struggle with accepting their culture, instead it shows how one can always return back to their culture no matter how far they pushed it away. Overall this book is an easy read although some parts of it feel a bit slow paced or boring. It’s not the kind of book I would personally read on my own time but nevertheless I’m glad I had an opportunity to read it. Since this book doesn’t really coincide with my personal taste and I could only relate to it on a basic level since I don’t know much about Bengali culture, I rate this book a 7/10.