The Namesake

I know I'm not the first person, and I'm sure I won't be the last, to give Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake a glowing review. But having just finished this book, I feel compelled to put another recommendation out there.

Lahiri's writing is beautiful, and she's able to fully embody characters in short space. Even secondary characters, and somewhat unsympathetic ones at that, are drawn in three dimensions. Given the book's vast scope, Lahiri's ability to deliver the key details needed to make far flung situations come alive in only a few paragraphs is vital.

The Namesake spans both the globe and generations, telling the story of a Bengali man and woman, betrothed and married at the arrangement of their parents, and their son who grows up in America and as an American. Lahiri skillfully draws parallels of various distances: the geographical distance Ashoke and Ashima put between them and their homeland, the emotional distances between parents and children and husbands and wives, and the distance between duty and dreams. The wonder of The Namesake is that these all feel universal, despite being so grounded in a single ethnic group's shared experiences.