Emma's Reviews > The Namesake

The Namesake follows a Bengali couple, who move to the USA in the 60s. Ashoke is a trained engineer, who quickly adapts to his new lifestyle. His wife Ashima deeply misses her family and struggles to adapt. Following the birth of her children, she pines for home even more.

Her two children grow up feeling more connected to America than India, and view their visits there as a chore. The elder child, Gogol is the main character. He struggles with his identity, and detests his unusual name. The book follows this family over the period of about 30 years. We watch Gogol grow up, we see him fall in love, and we witness the family's shared tragedies.

I very much enjoyed the subject matter. Ashima's culture shock and Gogol's identity crises both felt very authentic. I also liked seeing one family's experiences over such a large timescale. The one thing I didn't like was the narration style. It's written in the present tense, and the story somehow ended up feeling a little flat.

It's probably an unpopular opinion, but I prefer Roopa Farooki's stories about second or third generation Asian families. That's probably an unfair comparison though, as they are generally more cheerful, lighter reads