The Namesake
By Jhumpa Lahiri
The namesake is an evocative novel
which explores a theme connected with the clashing of different cultures and
the distress felt by those who get caught in such lifestyles. The central
character, Gogol, feels out of place in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he had
been brought by his Bengali parents.
Ashok
and Ashima, middle class Bengali newlyweds settle in Cambridge. Ashok settles into a routine far more easily
than his wife, who misses the family atmosphere and the traditional ways of
life they left behind in India. Yet, slowly they fashion a niche for themselves
in America. Soon, their first son is born. They name him Gogol, after the Russian novelist whose book accidently
saved Ashok from near death in a train accident in Bengal, years back. The aura
of this experience looms gloomily over the plotline. However, Gogol only learns the significance
of his name much later.
Little
Gogol and his sister, Sonia grow up as fully fledged Americans. Their Indian
identity is merely a symbolic keepsake. However, as he grows older, Gogol gets
quietly ashamed of his parent, whose quaint Indian ideas and heavily Bengali
culture, seems to him old fashioned and detesting. He resents his name and
views it as a shadow of his Indian origins, which keeps incessantly dogging him
and which threatens to be the snag to a successful life in America. As revenge,
Gogol starts defying his parents, adopting outrageous practices, getting
involved in silly love affairs and he gets distanced mentally from his parents.
He gradually recedes into a shell. He marries an Indian born American girl just
like him; she turns out to be worse than him. When Gogol finds out that she had
been cheating him, he dispassionately breaks the marriage. Weeks later, his father
dies and he is told of the story behind his name.
The book ends with a
compassionate Gogol resignedly accepting his Indian origins. The author
beautifully portrays the strange lives Indian immigrants live out abroad, how
they end up mixing diverse cultures and yet find contentment. It also shows how
people painstakingly mould their characters according to the personal dogmas
and stereotypes they believe in.
(Harper Collins Publishers, New Delhi, Price: Rs. 299, Pages :291)
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MY NAME IS RED
ORHAN PAMUK
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MY NAME IS RED
By
ORHAN PAMUK
(Review by Aswathy S Lazer XI A)
As in all all classics of Orhan Pamuk, ‘My Name is Red’
brilliantly lets the story meander along a path lined by nuances of oriental
history, corrupted love and the famous eastern versus western conflict.
All the chapters are pictured
through the eyes of one of the characters, and each brilliantly
captures, and each brilliantly captures the vibrant suspicions,
tribulations and inner demons within each. The denastuated, timeless
beauty of Tstanbul at the peak of the downfall of the Ottoman empire
reverberates in the storyline.
To God belongs east and the west is a recurring tagline. The drama
revolves around the debate among the miniaturists serving the Ottoman
emperor on whether to adopt the frankish style of painting. The author
writes beautifully on the novel art of Islamic miniature painting and
the religious and moralistic values nit inculcates.
Above all, the book portrays
the instability of human nature , how fears and complexes during moments
of desperation into utterances and actions which dance around the thin
line between sanity and insanity.
' My Name is Red' recorded Pamuk's Name in World literature. This books is a window on the life in Isthambule during 16th century during the time of Sultam Murad III of the Ottoman Empire.
(Faber & Faber Ltd., London, , Price: Rs. 299, Pages :508)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in Isthambul. A very famous Turkish writer , Teacher at Columbia University in America. His works got translated over 50 languages worldwide. Awarded Nobel prize for literature in 2006.
His noted works are * Museum of Innocence (2008), * Darkness and Light(1974), * Silent House(1984), * White Castle-Beyazkale (1985), * Black Book(1990).