The Namesake | 
1. I am not named after anyone, but I gave my daughter my middle name: Nicole. She is not a fan! 🙃
2. I can't think of any novels with an Erin, but The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri features a main character originally named Gogol after the Russian author Nikolai Gogol.
Thanks for the tag, @TheSpineView !
#Two4Tuesday
pickIt took a long time for me to become invested in this story of a Bengali couple that moves to the U.S. and starts their own family. Yet, in the end I really enjoyed reading Gogol‘s story.
#audiobook #1001books #Reading1001 #TBRTakedown March 2024
pickAfter all the years I've owned it and sold it, I never had a good idea what this was about. I'm glad I finally read it. Ironically, I'd been partially waiting because I have a Gogol short story collection that was a gift from a mentor that I still haven't read that I thought I should read first. Gogol is still waiting for the right time, but this was perfect.
pickThis book left me feeling troubled. The main character, and many of the other characters, are so unsettled. I realize many of us ‘fake it til we make it‘ and don‘t really know how to do something, but pull up our pants & figure it out. But to have that uncertainty called our left me feeling unsettled. I did enjoy the experiences of Bengali immigrants and seeing their children grow up in America.
Started Reading The Namesake By Jhumpa Lahiri...
It's A Great Read Till Now,Stay Tuned For The Review!!
(First Post On Litsy)
pickWhat an excellent read! The reader follows the Ganguli family from their roots in India to the United States. As the couple tries to form a new log for themselves and they begin a family, the narrative shifts to their son, Gogol. Full of everyday life, forming a portrait of what it is like to be an immigrant and first generation American. Gogol struggles with his identity and his ties to his heritage. Slow moving, but powerful. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
An observation that contains a spoiler, but I felt compelled to share. Marked as a spoiler in the first comment.
In Covid quarantine until Thursday morning. Started with my daughter a week ago, then one of the boys went into quarantine, and now me (because said boy sneezed a dozen times when taking his rapid test and I was about a foot away from him). I‘m stuck in my little bedroom. Feeling okay - just normal cold symptoms. This isn‘t anything that would have slowed me down pre-Covid. But since I‘m stuck here….maybe this will give my reading a boost!
Two dog beds right there on the floor with blankets, but my lap and my feet are the preferred spots. 🥰 They didn‘t leave me much room for my book. 😂
Enjoying this book so far, though I‘m only a few pages in. ❤️📚
pickI love the way that Lahiri explores the ‘everyday‘, the mundane, the minutiae of life.
We meet the protagonist, named Gogol almost by mistake, as he is born and follow him through to his married life, getting to know his friends, family and lovers along the way.
I think I liked this one more than Whereabouts so thank you for recommending it @JillR
pickA story about how the experiences of life shape and develop a person‘s identity. What‘s in a name? Can a person reinvent themselves in the wake of cultural displacement? Readers follow Gogol and his family as they navigate their experiences in the midst of two worlds simultaneously, while both belonging and not belonging in either. Lahiri‘s beautiful descriptions, especially of the traditional Indian foods, had my mouth watering. #doublespin
I started listening to The Namesake today. I love this novel, I even have a first edition on my shelf. Oh, and my husband made California rolls for dinner. Aren‘t they gorgeous?
pickBeautiful and powerful story of identity. Well-written with attention to details of ordinary lives that will make your heart ache.
pickThe Namesake (2003) is the debut novel by American author Jhumpa Lahiri. It explores many of the same emotional and cultural themes as Lahiri's Pulitzer Prize-winning short story collection Interpreter of Maladies. The novel moves between events in Calcutta, Boston, and New York City, and examines the nuances involved with being caught between two conflicting cultures with distinct religious, social, and ideological differences.
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
pickMy first Jhumpa Lahiri, and not my last, I'm sure. The last chapter was perhaps too much of a neat bow, but all in all I really enjoyed it. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
pick📚📚📚📚 I realize that I enjoy novels about the lives of people in fiction rather than memoir or biography. Following a Bengali family from Calcutta, the story goes through their ups and downs. Written in a very linear fashion with direct phrasing and unambiguous description. This is August #tbrandamovie pick - the movie to be watched at the end of the month.
Here‘s my August TBR. My “game” to bring down my 3440+ TBR is earning points per page read which equals out to $$ at the end of the month/year to buy more books 😎. TBH, I‘ve had 4 interviews with no offers…it‘s looking more and more like I won‘t be going back into teaching which is a bit of a bummer. And that means working something else - any former teachers out there have suggestions? I‘ve been unemployed a year so I have to find work soon.
Current audio. One of those books everyone seems to have read but me.
“That‘s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.”
Agreed 💞
Book #67: My fiancée was given this book to borrow from a friend but she doesn‘t read so I decided to read it! As I am obsessed with linguistics and names I loved this one!
Hey guys! It‘s been kindly brought to my attention by a few people that maybe our team should be #ReadNosedReindeer...not ReadNoseReindeer...I think they‘re right! My bad. I‘ll change it now before the start of the event😄 @Clwojick #WinterGames2020
pickIn this lovely character-driven novel, Lahiri paints a rich portrait of the Indian immigrant experience in the United States. I also loved The Lowland by this author. Planning to add her short story collections to my #bookspin list for next month.
September #doublespin @TheAromaofBooks
pickHad to sleep on it for this one. I was dragging my feet at times. But I think it‘s a really nice story. What defines who we are? What are we without each other?
I have a lot of Litsy catching up to do. 😬
Here are #3Books written by POC authors that I absolutely loved... these were all ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ reads for me. ❤️
so-soThis was my first book by this author. It was just ok. She is a great author. The story didn‘t do it for me. It was chock full of stuff and constantly coming back to the name given to the son. Ummm, ok.
Thanks for the tag @Coleen_Nieto 😊
1. Tagged
2. Jhumpa Lapri is the only one that comes to mind but im sure there I have been others
3. Yes - a good friend is Indian and I live very near to a neighborhood with a large Indian population - we have many restaurants nearby!
#indianindependenceday
It‘s late so tagging anyone interested! @Blackink_WhitePaper
The one and only book I've read by #JhumpaLahiri. Littens, do you recommend others? #AugustAuthors
📷: TheLitBooks
@OriginalCyn620 @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
New books! 📚
pickA young couple move from Calcutta to live in Boston 1968. Their children are born American, & their culture still deep in Calcutta. A very moving & universal book about family & love.
I will use it for #setinIndia for booked2020 as it is partly set in India.
#WeeklyForecast Decided on this one to start the week off 🤞🏻
pickThis is the best family drama novel I‘ve read in a long time. If it‘s been sitting on your shelf as long as it was on mine, I highly recommend reading it next! #bookspin #1001books @TheAromaofBooks
Starting my June #bookspin - my first month participating. This book has been on my shelf for a few years from a library sale. Not a fan of the movie tie-in cover. #1001books @TheAromaofBooks
pick“A glowing miniature of a tiny family making the voyage between two worlds.” Gogol, born in America, strives to break free and live the life he wants. His parents, having left India at the start of their married life for a new life in the US, struggle with the distance from their families and the slow loss of their traditions. Beautifully and sparingly written, I loved this so much.
"And yet these events have formed Gogol, shaped him, determined who he is. They were the things for which it was impossible to prepare but which one spent a lifetime looking back at, trying to accept, interpret, comprehend. Things that should never have happened, that seemed out of place and wrong, these were what prevailed, what endured, in the end."
#littens #jhumpalahiri #bookworm #booklover
"He realises that she has never wishes she were anyone other than herself, raised in any other place, in any other way. This, in his opinion, is the biggest difference between them".
#thenamesake #jhumpalahiri #littens
#7days7books Day 2 Books that changed me or left a lasting impact on me @DHill and @AnneCecilie would you like to play? Thank you for the tag @MoonWitch94 @JaclynW @Jas16 and @SquidgetsRoom
pickAs good as people say.
pickA beautiful narrative following the life of Gogol Ganguli, an American-born man of Bengali descent. I love the way he transforms from boy to man and survives life. I think the character of his mom, Ashemi, is beautifully written! I just wish there had been slightly more character development of Sonia.
My personal review to follow, but I loved how the author describes her novel in these sentences.
