The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

"blog? what blog?"

shut up, i have homework i've been ignoring.

Jhumpa Lahiri won a pulitzer prize for "interpreter of maladies," a collection of short stories generally about how immigrants deal with their conflicting "homeland" traditions and the strikingly different culture in the US. i hated it. while i will admit that it was beautifully written, it seemed that every person who let go of their desi culture left an immoral and unhappy life. on the other hand, their traditional counter parts spent the majority of their time longing for home, wishing they'd never left their homelands. vhatever, dude. i like to think i've been able to maintain my values within the american system and managed to "integrate, yet not dissolve" into the society. this is my home. i belong here. maybe the reason i didnt empathize much with lahiri's characters was because i distinguish my paki values from my islamic ones (and, of course, place greater importance on the latter than the former). cultural values change; religious values do not. imho. :shrug:



so because of my post-'interpreter' dissapointment, i put off reading 'the namesake' for a year or so (and let's face it... i dont read). however, since so many people have raved about the book AND because there's a movie being released based on it (who wants to read the book after there's a movie??), i thought i'd give it a shot.

i. love. this. book.

lahiri's writing style is amazing. and rather than the blatant disconnect that i hated in 'interpreter,' this novel reflects the slow and subtle transition in which people can lose the morals which they once valued. "an intimate family portrait" is how one reviewer described it and it's just that. beginning from when the parents move to the US and give birth to their first son, you see glimpses into the son's life from birth to adulthood. you understand his internal conflict of trying (or not) to understand his parents' culture and religion and allowing himself to flow with american society. beautifully written; i swear sometimes i even forgot i was reading. i think anyone from an immigrant family (hi chen) would love it.

holla.
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