Books: The making of a true 'Indian-American'

The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri's follow-up to her Pulitzer Prize-winning compilation of short stories, "Interpreter of Maladies," certainly deserves acclaim. Her achievement in detailing the story of a first-generation Indian boy dealing with his parents, his unusual name and his history is nonpareil.

The youth, Gogol Ganguli, has been named after a Russian author whom his father reveres. Lahiri manages to craft the centerpiece of Gogol's conflict around his own name. For the Gangulis, names are very traditional, and each child gets a pet name, as well as a "good," legal name. Tradition went askew for Gogol's parents, as the letter bearing Gogol's good name was lost in the midst of an intercontinental journey. His parents must thus settle on this name, neither Indian nor American, of a boy who will grow up confused about his own identity. His father's reasoning for naming him Gogol surfaces much after he is an adult, too late for Gogol--the namesake who has rechristened himself Nikhil--to turn back.

Gogol is conflicted by his desire to be "American" and rebels against his passive parents, who have only Indian friends, acting as surrogate family, and only wish success and an Indian wife for him. Lahiri's passion for telling a story emanates from the pages of her debut novel, and she clearly strikes a chord with readers who have had such an experience--growing up in a country that is not yours, yet not belonging to the country to which your parents have indissoluble bonds. But perhaps it is Lahiri's clear, unaffected prose, objective yet wrought with emotion, that begins to hint that The Namesake possesses unmistakable literary merit.

In one of the most beautiful moments of the novel, Gogol recalls walking for miles on a beach at his father's side towards their destination--a lighthouse. "Try to remember it always," his father advises him. "Remember that you and I made this journey, that we went together to a place where there was nowhere left to go."

These words, so simple, capture the essence of The Namesake--that journeys can end and destinies can be fulfilled, despite everything.