One day during a reading period for Brit Lit I had nothing to read. I meandered over to a book shelf and picked up a book with a pretty cover thinking to myself "I just need something to pass 41 minutes." Little did I know I had grabbed a book that would become one of my all time favorites. The Namesake by Jumpa Lahiri was one of the first books I could actually relate to because it was about someone who was from India and raised in the United States, like me. I found myself laughing, tearing up, and repeatedly thinking "No way, me too!" This led me to start reading her Pulitzer Prize winning book called Interpreter of Maladies. Its a collection of short stories basically along the same ideas as The Namesake.
The first story I read was called “A Temporary Matter” which is funny because the characters in the book seem like they have more of a Serious Matter on their hands. Its about a second generation Indian married couple whose marriage isn’t working out. I believe Lahiri’s purpose behind this story is that in Indian society marriage is considered very important and so important that divorce is practically unheard of. Every Bollywood movie, Indian tv show, Indian book is revolves around “the marriage”. It’s interesting to see that there is really no happy ending for Shoba and Shukumar with the conflicting ideas of American and Indian cultures. One where divorce is understandable and the other where (lets put it in light terms) will be a hot discussion topic amongst your parents’ family and friends. Oh, the conflictions we second generationers have...
I think that there is a pretty good film of The Namesake--I really liked it. Worth checking out.
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