Page Turners – June 2025 review

In June the Page Turners read ‘The Namesake‘ by Jhumpa Lahiri. This debut novel was published in 2003.

In the book, a Bengali couple settle in America in 1968, shortly after their arranged marriage. The main protagonist of the book is their son Gogol and we follow the story of his education, early relationships and eventual marriage. Throughout the book we explore the differences between the Bengali and American cultures and learn about how the different family members respond to these differences.

We admired the mother who left behind her family to follow a husband she barely knew and made a successful life in a new country, while always remaining committed to the traditions and values of her childhood. Gogol demonstrates an increasing desire to distance himself from his parents’ lifestyle and to embrace the American way of life. He is also challenged by his name which derives not from the Bengali culture, but from his father’s favourite Russian author. He resents the strangeness of his name and changes it legally long before he comes to understand the significance of it.

We were all captivated by this book. We enjoyed the beautifully descriptive writing which gave the story a wonderful sense of place. We were very interested in how the family retained their Bengali identity while also being part of the community in which they lived and worked but we recognised that this was a story of a well-educated and fairly well-to-do family and may not necessarily reflect the experience of many immigrant families.

We particularly enjoyed discussing whether the book would make a good film – and then discovered that it had already been done! We also discussed how our name might affect our sense of self and some of us gave reasons why we had chosen to be called by something other than our given name. Finally, we wondered what would happen to Gogol next – by the end of the book this confused young man was gaining an understanding of his heritage and we hoped this would lead to him coming to terms with who he was and finding happiness.

We recommend this book to you. Some of us have copies to share so do get in touch if you would like to swap our page turner for one of your own.

Deborah, convenor