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

M said…
One of my colleagues here in DC is writing her PhD dissertation on Lahiri and other southeast Asian-American writers. We've had quite a few head-nodding discussions wherein we talk about how much we hate Lahiri. She got to see the movie-- said it was far better than the book but still problematic. I've refused to read Namesake because I hated Interpreter of Maladies so much... and Nadeea says Namesake a lot worse in terms of doing that thing where minority writers are more invested in writing The Story of My Cultural Experience, rather than writing a peice with more artistic integrity and less of an agenda. Her style of writing just does this totally self-defeating cultural fetishization thing that I find both really disheartening and lacking self-awareness on the part of the writer.

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...
bmitd67 said…
Marjorie, I think that is a load of crap, in this particular case.

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.