The Namesake' is the story of a boy brought up Indian in America' When her grandmother learned of Ashima's pregnancy she was particularly thrilled at the prospect of naming the family's first sahib & so Ashima & Ashoke have agreed to put off the decision of what to name the baby until a letter comes' For now the label on his hospital cot reads simply BABY BOY GANGULI But as time passes & still no letter arrives from India American bureaucracy takes over & demands that 'baby boy Ganguli' be given a name In a panic his father decides to nickname him ' Gogol'
- after his favourite writer Brought up as an Indian in suburban America Gogol Ganguli soon finds himself itching to cast off his awkward name just as he longs to leave behind the inherited values of his Bengali parents & so he sets off on his own path through life a path strewn with conflicting loyalties love & loss Spanning three decades & crossing continents Jhumpa Lahiri's much-anticipated first novel is a triumph of humane story-telling Elegant subtle & moving The Namesake' is for everyone who loved the clarity sympathy & grace of Lahiri's Pulitzer Prize-winning debut story collection Interpreter of Maladies'