I loved Lahiri's "interpreter of Maladies" so much I bought myself a copy for my personal collection after I passed my available copy along to someone else. When I saw this book at one of our great, local used book stores, I snapped it up.
Looking forward to reading another book by Jhumpa Lahiri.

dancer in Bangalore, taken by a relative travelling in India

I have truly become a fan of this author's work.

The Namesake is a quiet and understated -- but never monotonous or boring. It was an honest look into the generation gap issue between new immigrants and the first-generation American children.
The parents, newly immigrated to the U.S. are still deeply Bengali. The children, like so many first-generation Americans, are more deeply rooted in the country of their birth than the country of their parent's hearts. The very same traditions which give the immigrants (no matter which country they have left behind) their sense of belonging, identity, and security, serve only to hinder their children's desire to blend, to become part of the American scenery. Complicate this with an unusual naming tradition, in this case one gone a bit awry, and you have a newly hatched American burdened with a name that affects him deeply, opening a chasm between himself and the culture of his ancestors.

Trains.... his father almost killed on one... meeting his first love on one.... learning of his wife's affair on one... constantly bringing him back into his parents world ... symbolism there somewhere... just don't have a good handle on it yet...

Tempted to add this one to my PC, but will mark it available and then decide :)

This one will be off to Toronto, to Geishabird - a RABCK to fulfill a wish posted on her Cliff's site wish list.

Thank you very much for sending this. I also loved Interpreter of Maladies and so am very much looking forward to reading more of Jhumpa Lahiri's work. Very kind of you to think of me; thank you again.

Really, really enjoyed reading this. Beautifully etched portraits of the small but significant events in one family's history and how they combine to form the kind of mythology that is particular to every family. How the unspoken creates its own powerful signature on the lives of individuals, and how one young man navigates his way through it all. Very nicely done.

I've read a few reviews of this book and I find that often critics lament that it doesn't quite meet the standard that Lahiri set with Interpreter of Maladies - although most of them are generous enough to admit that when your first book wins the Pulitzer Prize, book #2, no matter how good, is bound to suffer by comparison.

I see that Lahiri has a new volume of stories due out next year; I will definitely be picking that up. She has a lovely way of writing and of telling stories. Thanks very much for sharing this.

Received from geishabird as a choice from the Passport to the World VBB on Bookobsessed. Looks like a great read - thanks so much!

A very enjoyable book - written in an easy to read style. I kind of felt a little bit like the author ran out of steam in providing some details towards the end - I felt like the older Nikhal/Gogol got, the less I felt I knew him or the person he had become ... perhaps because as an adult he became more complex? It was probably me, not the author, as I wasn't honed in on the symbolism used in this book either. Towards the end I also wanted to go back to the mother's (Ashima) thoughts and feelings more maybe because in my mind it would tie it all in together better. Despite all these musings, I thought this was a very good book. Thanks for sharing it. :=D

reserved for hendertuckian - chosen from the Passport to the World VBB on bookobsessed

Mailed to hendertuckian Oct 30 2008

I found this book to be a 2 1/2 to 3 tissue read. I will be reading more by this author.

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Gave this book to a friend knowing I has a lot on her plate but hope she makes time to read it. Explored family ties that seem binding at times but gratefull for when you need them.