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Description edit
Jhumpa Lahiri's debut story collection, Interpreter of Maladies, took the literary world by storm when it won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000. Fans who flocked to her stories will be captivated by her best-selling first novel, now in paperback for the first time. The Namesake is a finely wrought,... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Summary edit
Gogol is a regular American kid. Except for the fact that he is the son of two, straight- off- the- mainland Indian parents, Ashima and Ashoke Ganguli. As his parents try to become accustomed to raising a family in America and staying close to homeland traditions, Gogol must decide whether he... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
Characters edit
- Ashima Ganguli: Ashoke's wife
- Ashoke Ganguli: Ashima's husband
- Gogol Ganguli: Ashima's and Ashoke's son. The main character of the book. His is the perspective from which we read, for about 3/4ths of the novel.
- Sonali 'Sonia' Ganguli: Ashima's and Ashoke's daughter
- Ruth: Gogol's first girlfriend
- Maxine: Gogol's girlfriend
- Moushumi: Family friend's daughter
- Lydia: Maxine's mother
- Gerald: Maxine's father
- Dimitri: Moushumi's friend in university
- Donald: Moushumi's friend and Astrid's husband
- Astrid: Moushumi's friend from Brown's
- Graham: Moushumi is engaged to Graham and after the wedding is planned and invitations are sent they break up
- Mr. Lawson: Add a description of this character.
- Judy
- Mrs. Lapidus: Gogol's elementary school principal who changes his name in the registration form to Gogol from Nikhil
- Ghosh: Fellow traveler with Ashoke in the train when traveling to his grandfather's town
- Alan
- Rana: Ashima's brother
- Jonathan
- Brandon
- Edith
- Silas: Maxine's dog
- Mr. Wilcox: Registrar at the hospital where Gogol is born
- Kim
- Pamela
- Russell
- Ben: Gogol's sister's fiance
- Patty
- Mr. Davenport
- Dr. Gupta: Doctor who attended Ashima at the hospital when Gogol is born.
- Blake
Quotes edit
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“It is a chilly, spectacular November day, the blue sky cloudless, the trees shedding bright yellow leaves that blanket the ground”
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“Things that should never have happened, that seemed out of place and wrong, these were what prevailed, what endured, in the end”
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“...being a foreigner, Ashima is beginning to realize, is a sort of lifelong pregnancy- a perpetual wait, a constant burden, a continuous feeling out of sorts.”
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“Pet names are a persistent remnant of childhood, a reminder that life is not alwats so serious, so formal, so complicated. They are a reminder, too, that one is not all things to all people.”
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“How many times does a person write his name in a lifetime - a million?2 million?”
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“He thinks of it as Americans do, as India”
Gogol -
“There were things for which it was impossible to prepare”
Nikhil
First Sentence edit
ON A STICKY AUGUST EVENING two weeks before her due date, Ashima Ganguli stands in the kitchen of a Central Square apartment, combining Rice Krispies and Planters peanuts and chopped red onion in a bowl.
Series & Lists edit
This is book 128 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (June 2010). (authoritative list)
This is book 149 of 194 in Shelfari Most Popular (December 2010). (authoritative list)
This is book 166 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (June 2011). (authoritative list)
This is book 178 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (December 2011). (authoritative list)
This is book 54 of 1286 in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)
This book is in The Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge. (community list)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Country: India
Publication Date: September 2003
ISBN: 0-395-92721-8
Page Count: 291
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Country: India
Publication Date: September 2003
ISBN: 0-395-92721-8
Page Count: 291
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: PS3562.A316 N36 2003
- Dewey: 813.54
Subjects edit
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