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The Namesake - February 2026 Book Club Reading

Falselogic

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
The Namesake is the 2003 debut novel by Jhumpa Lahiri. The story originally appeared in the New Yorker and then was expanded in the novel. The book tells the story of two generations of the Gangulis, a family of Indian immigrants to the United States. The book didn't in any rewards but was adapted into a popular film.

Jhumpa Lahiri is a British-American author known for her short stories, novels, and essays. Her debut collection of short-stories, Interpreter of Maladies, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
 
My library appears to have a 2003 and a 2019 version to check out. There's no major difference in the library descriptions, anyone know if there's a significant difference between the two? I'd assume I should go for the 2019 one but would be curious to know more.
 
I don't think there is any differences. When I was looking up background I didn't see anything about different versions of the book.
 
Falselogic said:
I don't think there is any differences. When I was looking up background I didn't see anything about different versions of the book.
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Sweet, thanks! I figured as much but usually my library just upgrades to newer editions so this gave me pause. Probably just a budget thing, or a replacement copy was the newer one or something.

When I added this book I remembered I've read one of her essays about Italo Calvino which is part of her book Translating Myself and Others, which is, well, basically about the title. She moves to Italy, learns Italian and starts writing in Italian instead of English and also doing translation. I could have sworn I read that book but only have a record of checking it out, nothing about actually finishing it or a rating. Maybe I ran out of time, had to return it and never got it back again or something? I think I'll pick that up too, I remember it being short.
 
I don't know when but I do believe I have read this book before or seen the movie... It all seems so familiar without me being able to place exactly why or how.

I don't think I like anyone in the book. But I can certainly understand some of them. I can't imagine what it would be like to move to a country where you barely knew the language and didn't know anyone else and just try and make a life. Even when I was young and somewhat adventurous that was never something I saw myself doing or even consider.
 
Oh damn, this book got me right in the feels. I'll wait to comment until more of you have finished.
 
About 1/4 of the way in, spoiler-free. The writing is quite good, keeping me reading even as fairly ordinary things like plane flights and child-rearing are happening. (Of course, those things are always momentous for the person they happen to.) From Ashima's pov, I get a persistent feeling of alienation, which is even more pronounced when she moves to the Massachusets suburbs with her family.
 
Started it on our 3 hour trip back home Saturday and had planned to pick it up again next weekend. But I was completely absorbed. Got home, did the minimal amount of unpacking needed and settled back in. Finished it same day. A wonderful novel that does the rare fantastic job of seeing things from multiple perspectives. A lot of fiction following families over long periods of time tends to stick with one perspective, one set of ethics and morals and often focuses on the older generation and their horror at the changes in their family. This does a fantastic job of seeing it from both sides and looking at how things can break and reconnect over time.

Rosewood said:
From Ashima's pov, I get a persistent feeling of alienation, which is even more pronounced when she moves to the Massachusetts suburbs with her family.
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By the end you feel it in everyone, but it's not entirely sadness except for (spoiler for the last quarter of the book) Moushumi who we feel some compassion for but has still broken the family in a new haunting way. It's wonderfully done.
 
A little over halfway through. My primary genre or category is fantasy, and I don't typically read contemporary fiction (this one having a publication year of 2003 stretches the idea of "contemporary," but I hope you know what I mean). While fantasy has affected me on a deeper level on occasion, I don't think it's capable of some of the points of resonance here. An older person teaching a younger one how to play cribbage (mentioned very briefly, but striking because it is something me, my sister, my mom, and my BFF all have in common), a family cabin on a beautiful lake where younger people are only called upon to enjoy themselves, a paper address book with many amendations and outdated entries.
 
i read this book many years ago, and saw the movie, and saw myself so deeply reflected in the story that it was genuinely painful.
 
Violentvixen said:
I'm curious if this was a specific scene/part or just the book overall?
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I was holding off on details until after the middle of the month. The strained relationship that Gogol has with his father, Ashoke, reminds me a lot the relationship I have with my father. The attempts at his father reaching out and trying to connect with his son and not knowing how. Being only able to communicate through books. There is a lot in Ashoke I see in my dad and a lot in that relationship I see in my own.

And then when his father dies suddenly that also cuts, my dad is in his mid seventies. He is only going to be with me for so many years and I dont want to lose that relationship. I dont want that relationship to be as stunted as Gogol's was with his dad. I don't want to have those regrets that he does.

It resonates with me and hurts.
 
I finished the book this morning. Rather dense reading for me, at times. Long expository paragraphs and very little dialogue. (A mere glance at next month's selection tells me it will be much easier going.) As mentioned above, though, I liked the prose and its day-to-day details. The scenes are often affecting without being sentimental.

I hadn't come across pet and good names before, at least as described here. I noticed that throughout the novel, the narrative calls the titular character Gogol, long after he's changed his name legally. The notion of the pet name disappearing when all who have known you by that name are gone, was something I hadn't considered until it was mentioned in that last Christmas scene.

I know that at times you can't help who you're attracted to, but Dimitri seemed like a poor choice to have an affair with. I understand why he was portrayed that way, though, and why he existed in the story in the first place.

The short story book that was left unread for decades reminds me of the binders of family stories that my mom has put together. I've read bits and pieces of them, but there isn't a whole lot there that I wasn't either aware of or experienced myself, so they've largely been moved from place to place and not engaged with in much detail.
 
Rosewood said:
The short story book that was left unread for decades reminds me of the binders of family stories that my mom has put together. I've read bits and pieces of them, but there isn't a whole lot there that I wasn't either aware of or experienced myself, so they've largely been moved from place to place and not engaged with in much detail.
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Oh this is an interesting aspect of this. I hadn't thought about what I have that's similar and I'm sure there are things.
 
Didn't read much at all last month so I am going to get through this before starting the March book.
 
Almost halfway through and loving it so far. Showing the interior lives of the parents before focusing mostly on Gogol is done extremely well. The description of the train accident is especially vivid.

Gonna have to read The Overcoat sometime soon.
 
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