This is an interesting novel about a boy/man whose parents are from Bangladesh and their individual struggles to either hold on to their culture, or -- in his case -- to fight it. In the end, however, he finds his own way to embrace it, but on his own terms.

As an Indo-American (born of Indian parents in the U.S.), I completely understood and felt much of what Ms. Lahiri describes as the experience of the main character, who is born in Boston to Indian immigrant parents. She also gives me a sense of what my parents must have felt as they gave birth to and brought up their children (my sisters and me) in a foreign country... my parents moved to the Washington, DC area in their early twenties to continue my father's education, similar to the parents of Gogol in The Namesake. As in Interpreter of Maladies, Ms. Lahiri's writing is lush and descriptive, evocative and emotional. The Namesake is, I believe, a much advanced story, rather than glimpses and snapshots into moments in the lives of certain people, as Interpreter was. The ending of Namesake fizzles just a bit, losing some of its genius as it tries to wrap things up maybe a bit too neatly. Overall, though, I was taken back to my childhood and given a better understanding of my parents, my family, my extended family and their struggles and joys. Literature cannot do better than achieve that goal for the reader. Thank you, Ms. Lahiri.

CAUGHT IN OLNEY MD USA