A Daughter's Journey.
In Book (Summit, N.J.)., issue 30, p. 52- 55
Publication Date: September/October 2003
The Namesake is an effortless and self-assured bildungsroman that more than delivers on the promise of her earlier work and a novel of epic sweep told with the precision of a short story. It follows an Indian family's assimilation into U.S. society over more than 30 years and includes at its core an examination of the struggle between honoring one's heritage and assimilating into a new society. This is achieved through the main character, a boy called Gogol, who feels caught between the two cultures and who, like Lahiri, is uncomfortable with his name.
