Samanami by Jhumpa Lahiri [Hardcover]

"'Samanami' is a story of different tastes and different feelings. At the end of the 1960s, Asima, a girl from North Kolkata, marries Ashok Ganguli and moves to America. Asima could never accept this separation from her relatives and familiar environment. When her eldest son was born there, he became an American citizen by law. Due to a postal error, Asima's grandmother's suggested name for the boy was lost, so Ashok gave him a temporary nickname, Gogol, not only out of admiration for the Russian writer but also because a flying page from Gogol's collected stories had saved Ashok's life during a train accident. Thus, the name became a symbol of regained life for Ashok. However, Gogol, who had become Americanized, could never accept that name. Could he even accept his Indian roots? This narrative captures the stories of roots and rootlessness, making a home in a foreign land, being stuck between the old and new lives, and understanding spiritual crises. In this Bengali translation of the original English novel 'The Namesake,' the distinct literary achievements and writing style of expatriate writer Jhumpa Lahiri are reflected."