A story about "The Namesake (movie tie-in edition)"
by Jhumpa Lahiri
My oh my, this is my book of the year. I know it’s a few years old but what a wonderful book. It’s an easy read and the ease with which she flows between narrators/perspectives. Gugol is me except he’s Indian and I’m not. This is a book for misfits. This is a book for those who don’t understand their parents or those who don’t understand their children. This is a great book.
Comments
I'll see the movie, doubtlessly, but Nadeea says it's only better because it only minimally deals with the trite (a la Amy Tan, another novelist not worth her hype-- she's like Maxine Hong Kingston on a diet of rice cakes and sweet-n-low) 2nd generation plotline.
For juicier fair, I'd reccommend Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things (probably my favorite book ever) or pretty much anything Zadie Smith is up to.
Ugh-- Marjorie's lit crit monster appears to have raised its ugly head...
Why is "The Story of My Cultural Experience" an agenda? People write what they know. People write what they want others to know.
I see nothing resembling "self-defeating cultural fetishization". The issues she explores are valid and explored well. As a black man who grew up in a predominantly white environment I can't tell you how much I hated being identified as Black...I knew I was Black so why did everybody (blacks and whites) keep pointing it out. I never hated my parents or "their ways" but I have at least one relative who does. There is guilt and embarrassment that comes with being the first or only in what seem to be normal situations...and I won't even go into the stress and confusion that is part of interracial dating. I won't say my experiences are the same for everyone but mine have been quite similar to those of Gogul.
I have enjoyed reading this book.
I have no quibbles with her as a writer, I am not comparing her to any other minority/immigrant writers, and I am sure as hell not anaylizing this for Ph.D.