--- product_id: 225319860 title: "The Namesake: A Novel" price: "1627036₫" currency: VND in_stock: true reviews_count: 10 url: https://www.desertcart.vn/products/225319860-the-namesake-a-novel store_origin: VN region: Vietnam --- # The Namesake: A Novel **Price:** 1627036₫ **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Namesake: A Novel - **How much does it cost?** 1627036₫ with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.vn](https://www.desertcart.vn/products/225319860-the-namesake-a-novel) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Buy The Namesake: A Novel by Lahiri, Jhumpa from desertcart's Fiction Books Store. Everyday low prices on a huge range of new releases and classic fiction. Review: An immersive read - This is the first book I have read by Jhumpa Lahiri but it has been on my TBR pile for a while after seeing it so highly rated. I love being immersed in another culture when I read and, as I have also emigrated to another country, I was keen to start and be taken on a familiar but different journey. We start the book in 1968 with Ashoke and Ashmina Ganguli, they are recently wed in an arranged marriage and have immigrated to Boston from Calcutta so that Ashoke can pursue a PhD in engineering. This is a world away from their Bengali family and friends and in the days before the internet, Ashmina is immediately homesick for India so she finds a network of Bengalis up and down the east coast, preserving traditions and creating a pseudo-family in her new country. Within the first year of the Gangulis arrival, Ashmina gives birth to a son, Gogol, named after the Russian writer, whose volume of short stories saved his fathers life during a fatal train derailment in India. Ashoke and Ashmina then have a daughter and they desire that their children have a Bengali life in America despite being one of few Indian families in their area but Gogol and his younger sister Sonali grow up fully assimilated as Americans. They barely speak Bengali and only once in a while crave Indian food. Both choose career paths that are not traditionally Indian so that they have little contact with the Bengali culture that their parents fought so hard to preserve. We follow the family over many years, shifting in perspective from parent to child, and see how their lives adapt, change and remain traditional in some ways as they navigate their futures in the US. I was immediately swept into the story and regularly found myself thinking about the characters when I wasn’t reading the book. This doesn’t happen often and I love it when a book does this to me. The writing is beautiful (it helps if you like short sentences) and the characters are complex and real. I loved reading about the struggles the family overcame and how their diverse upbringings made for an interesting story. Ashima's culture shock and Gogol's identity crises both felt very authentic and I also liked seeing one family's experiences over such a large timescale (around 30 years). At its heart, this is a simple family story told very well and, for a first full-length novel, it is brilliant and I really look forward to reading more of Jhumpa Lahiri’s work. Review: Gogol's name put me off too! Until I understood... - I ordered 'The Namesake' after greatly appreciating Unaccustomed Earth which had me reaching for a notebook to capture forever some wonderful quotes from it. Still 'The Namesake' sat about for a while as a 'to be read' (TBR) i.e. 'some other time', before I started it, as the write up on the back left me a bit cool towards the content. I actually realise now that I too was consciously affected by the ugliness of Gogol's name; it called to mind Gorgons, or some such monster. Grappling with this awkward and unexplainable handle, Gogol ploughs through his serious days. Removed from India to the USA, his parents seem apologetic and nervous of the outside world; yet urgently needing to fit in and to recreate the warm, accepting, encircling love they left behind with their large family. Longing for their distanced relations suffuses the lives of Ashoke and Ashima. All the same they are determined to make a success of their new situation, well prepared to quietly sacrifice deep set parts of their make up for the happiness of Gogol and his sister Sonia, aka Sonali. In a way they are all children, newly born to the American life. Understanding of his parents' sacrifice comes late to Gogol; as a child he has a foot in both camps having naturally become more American than Bengali. Children can as we know, be cruel. Wistful moments abound. The story become unexpectedly, for me, entirely touching. Having a short name and a long name is quite usual, I know the feeling of not recognising my proper name in the first days of school. For the Bengali tradition there is a 'good' name and a given one. One is used privately, the other for the outside world. Through a little mishap this process goes awry for Gogol. Thereafter he feels ill at ease with himself and it is this that sets him apart more than his race it seems. So what a challenge it can be to come to terms with an ill fitting label. Somehow it seems to colour his place in life and his success in relationships. Being Gogol is a tough row to hoe. Luckily Nikhil rides to his rescue, his other name. It is fascinating to know what actually makes someone physically change their 'christian' name - 'The Namesake' deftly offers an explanation for this intriguing mystery. The phenomenon of rather falling in love with other families happens to Gogol, when he is accepted by the parents of one girlfriend quite completely. This is a rite of passage I think for young people, when they are emerging into their own personalities and deciding the kind of life they will choose. A form of disloyalty to the birth family but an educational process all the same. The fortunes and misfortunes of Gogol/Nikhil and his nearest and dearest are beautifully described. Life happens to them; when they are busy making other plans. How they cope and re emerge from troubles keeps you reading with attachment and empathy. You can seem them all from all sides and love them for it. A most absorbing read. I have been advised that it is also a wonderful film. The Namesake [DVD] [2006 ] ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | 5,163,189 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) 2,590 in Literary Fiction (Books) 8,690 in Cultural Heritage Fiction 15,371 in Family Sagas | | Customer reviews | 4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars (10,649) | | Dimensions | 13.97 x 2.06 x 20.96 cm | | Edition | Reprint | | ISBN-10 | 0358062683 | | ISBN-13 | 978-0358062684 | | Item weight | 1.05 kg | | Language | English | | Print length | 318 pages | | Publication date | 4 Jun. 2019 | | Publisher | Mariner Books Classics | | Reading age | 14 years and up | ## Images ![The Namesake: A Novel - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71UzMq1mN+L.jpg) ![The Namesake: A Novel - Image 2](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51upGMb-7NL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ An immersive read *by S***E on 16 July 2021* This is the first book I have read by Jhumpa Lahiri but it has been on my TBR pile for a while after seeing it so highly rated. I love being immersed in another culture when I read and, as I have also emigrated to another country, I was keen to start and be taken on a familiar but different journey. We start the book in 1968 with Ashoke and Ashmina Ganguli, they are recently wed in an arranged marriage and have immigrated to Boston from Calcutta so that Ashoke can pursue a PhD in engineering. This is a world away from their Bengali family and friends and in the days before the internet, Ashmina is immediately homesick for India so she finds a network of Bengalis up and down the east coast, preserving traditions and creating a pseudo-family in her new country. Within the first year of the Gangulis arrival, Ashmina gives birth to a son, Gogol, named after the Russian writer, whose volume of short stories saved his fathers life during a fatal train derailment in India. Ashoke and Ashmina then have a daughter and they desire that their children have a Bengali life in America despite being one of few Indian families in their area but Gogol and his younger sister Sonali grow up fully assimilated as Americans. They barely speak Bengali and only once in a while crave Indian food. Both choose career paths that are not traditionally Indian so that they have little contact with the Bengali culture that their parents fought so hard to preserve. We follow the family over many years, shifting in perspective from parent to child, and see how their lives adapt, change and remain traditional in some ways as they navigate their futures in the US. I was immediately swept into the story and regularly found myself thinking about the characters when I wasn’t reading the book. This doesn’t happen often and I love it when a book does this to me. The writing is beautiful (it helps if you like short sentences) and the characters are complex and real. I loved reading about the struggles the family overcame and how their diverse upbringings made for an interesting story. Ashima's culture shock and Gogol's identity crises both felt very authentic and I also liked seeing one family's experiences over such a large timescale (around 30 years). At its heart, this is a simple family story told very well and, for a first full-length novel, it is brilliant and I really look forward to reading more of Jhumpa Lahiri’s work. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Gogol's name put me off too! Until I understood... *by K***Y on 10 February 2011* I ordered 'The Namesake' after greatly appreciating Unaccustomed Earth which had me reaching for a notebook to capture forever some wonderful quotes from it. Still 'The Namesake' sat about for a while as a 'to be read' (TBR) i.e. 'some other time', before I started it, as the write up on the back left me a bit cool towards the content. I actually realise now that I too was consciously affected by the ugliness of Gogol's name; it called to mind Gorgons, or some such monster. Grappling with this awkward and unexplainable handle, Gogol ploughs through his serious days. Removed from India to the USA, his parents seem apologetic and nervous of the outside world; yet urgently needing to fit in and to recreate the warm, accepting, encircling love they left behind with their large family. Longing for their distanced relations suffuses the lives of Ashoke and Ashima. All the same they are determined to make a success of their new situation, well prepared to quietly sacrifice deep set parts of their make up for the happiness of Gogol and his sister Sonia, aka Sonali. In a way they are all children, newly born to the American life. Understanding of his parents' sacrifice comes late to Gogol; as a child he has a foot in both camps having naturally become more American than Bengali. Children can as we know, be cruel. Wistful moments abound. The story become unexpectedly, for me, entirely touching. Having a short name and a long name is quite usual, I know the feeling of not recognising my proper name in the first days of school. For the Bengali tradition there is a 'good' name and a given one. One is used privately, the other for the outside world. Through a little mishap this process goes awry for Gogol. Thereafter he feels ill at ease with himself and it is this that sets him apart more than his race it seems. So what a challenge it can be to come to terms with an ill fitting label. Somehow it seems to colour his place in life and his success in relationships. Being Gogol is a tough row to hoe. Luckily Nikhil rides to his rescue, his other name. It is fascinating to know what actually makes someone physically change their 'christian' name - 'The Namesake' deftly offers an explanation for this intriguing mystery. The phenomenon of rather falling in love with other families happens to Gogol, when he is accepted by the parents of one girlfriend quite completely. This is a rite of passage I think for young people, when they are emerging into their own personalities and deciding the kind of life they will choose. A form of disloyalty to the birth family but an educational process all the same. The fortunes and misfortunes of Gogol/Nikhil and his nearest and dearest are beautifully described. Life happens to them; when they are busy making other plans. How they cope and re emerge from troubles keeps you reading with attachment and empathy. You can seem them all from all sides and love them for it. A most absorbing read. I have been advised that it is also a wonderful film. The Namesake [DVD] [2006 ] ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Absorbing read but depressing *by A***R on 30 March 2023* Like the basic story line and superb style. However all a bit depressing as the main character's lives seem to go erong ## Frequently Bought Together - The Namesake: A Novel - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Pulitzer Prize Winner) - There There --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.vn/products/225319860-the-namesake-a-novel](https://www.desertcart.vn/products/225319860-the-namesake-a-novel) --- *Product available on Desertcart Vietnam* *Store origin: VN* *Last updated: 2026-05-19*