The Namesake
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Narrated by:
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Sarita Choudhury
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By:
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Jhumpa Lahiri
About this listen
Soon after they arrive in Cambridge, their first child is born, a boy. According to Indian custom, the child will be given two names: an official name, to be bestowed by the great-grandmother, and a pet name to be used only by family. But the letter from India with the child's official name never arrives, and so the baby's parents decide on a pet name to use for the time being. Ashoke chooses a name that has particular significance for him: on a train trip back in India several years earlier, he had been reading a short story collection by one of his most beloved Russian writers, Nikolai Gogol, when the train derailed in the middle of the night, killing almost all the sleeping passengers onboard. Ashoke had stayed awake to read his Gogol, and he believes the book saved his life. His child will be known, then, as Gogol.
Lahiri brings her enormous powers of description to her first novel, infusing scene after scene with profound emotional depth. Condensed and controlled, The Namesake covers three decades and crosses continents, all the while zooming in at very precise moments on telling detail, sensory richness, and fine nuances of character.
©2003 Jhumpa Lahiri (P)2003 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a Division of Random House, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"This poignant treatment of the immigrant experience is a rich, stimulating fusion of authentic emotion, ironic observation, and revealing details." ( Library Journal)
"This is a fine novel from a superb writer." ( The Washington Post)
"An effortless and self-assured bildungsroman that more than delivers on the promise of... Interpreter of Maladies." ( Book Magazine)
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Nora and Theresa Flynn are 21 and 17 when they leave their small village in Ireland and journey to America. Nora is the responsible sister; she's shy and serious and engaged to a man she isn't sure that she loves. Theresa is gregarious; she is thrilled by their new life in Boston and besotted with the fashionable dresses and dance halls on Dudley Street. But when Theresa ends up pregnant, Nora is forced to come up with a plan - a decision with repercussions they are both far too young to understand.
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The narration ruined it
- By Janis Reynolds on 06-12-17
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One True Thing
- By: Anna Quindlen
- Narrated by: Christina Moore
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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A young woman sits in jail, accused of the mercy killing of her dying mother. She didn't do it, but she thinks she knows who did. In the last months of her life, Ellen Gulden's mother revealed startling secrets that challenged everything Ellen believed about her family. Now, in jail, Ellen believes those secrets will tell her who had the courage to end her mother's suffering.
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Quindlen's writing skills shine in One True Thing.
- By Bonny on 08-26-13
By: Anna Quindlen
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Family Secrets
- A Novel
- By: Nancy Thayer
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Though Diane Randall’s jewelry business is a great success, her marriage is not, and she finds herself growing lonely as her children near adulthood. Meanwhile, her eighteen-year-old daughter Julia is falling dangerously in love, and Diane’s mother, Jean, is relishing her newfound freedom as a single woman in Europe. Distracted by their individual concerns, the three women are ill-prepared for the crisis that suddenly appears on Diane’s doorstep in the form of a handsome FBI agent asking about an explosive secret that’s laid buried for decades.
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Nancy! Is there a sequel? What?
- By PattieLynn on 12-02-22
By: Nancy Thayer
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Sanctuary Cove
- A Cavanaugh Island Novel, Book 1
- By: Rochelle Alers
- Narrated by: Nicole Small
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Still reeling from her husband’s untimely death, Deborah Robinson needs a fresh start. So she decides to pack up her family and return to her grandmother’s ancestral home on Cavanaugh Island. The charming town of Sanctuary Cove holds happy memories for Deborah, and, after she spies a gorgeous stranger in the local bakery, it promises the possibility for a bright future. Dr. Asa Monroe is at a crossroads. Ever since the loss of his family, he has been traveling from one town to another. When he meets Deborah, the beautiful bookstore owner with the sunny smile, Asa believes he has finally found a reason to stay in one place.
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Not Good, Clean Fun
- By Cheryl on 12-20-12
By: Rochelle Alers
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Bitter in the Mouth
- By: Monique Truong
- Narrated by: Jennifer Ikeda
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Growing up in the small town of Boiling Springs, North Carolina, in the 70’s and 80’s, Linda believes that she is profoundly different from everyone else, including the members of her own family. “What I know about you, little girl, would break you in two” are the cruel, mysterious last words that Linda’s grandmother ever says to her.
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"Tasting Words" made this hard to hear!
- By Kate Anderson on 11-06-11
By: Monique Truong
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The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
- By: Dinaw Mengestu
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Ethiopian émigré Dinaw Mengestu is a skilled observer of people who offers a colorful debut work of fiction. Insightful and swiftly paced, this novel evokes past and present in the course of its compelling narrative. It's the `70s, and one D.C. neighborhood is undergoing big changes. In the mix is Ethiopian grocery owner Sepha Stephanos - a man with a complex past who fled his homeland after seeing his father brutalized by themilitary. He hopes for new prospects in D.C.'s gentrification process.
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Great book, wonderful reader
- By Lisbeth on 11-22-11
By: Dinaw Mengestu
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Bettyville
- By: George Hodgman
- Narrated by: Jeff Woodman
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
When George Hodgman leaves Manhattan for his hometown of Paris, Missouri, he finds himself - an unlikely caretaker and near-lethal cook - in a head-on collision with his aging mother, Betty, a woman of wit and will. Will George lure her into assisted living? When hell freezes over. He can't bring himself to force her from the home both treasure - the place where his father's voice lingers, the scene of shared jokes, skirmishes, and, behind the dusty antiques, a rarely acknowledged conflict...
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Title Should Be Georgeville-It's All About George
- By Sara on 10-08-15
By: George Hodgman
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Don't Let Him Know
- By: Sandip Roy
- Narrated by: Tania Rodrigues
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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In a boxy apartment building in an Illinois university town, Romola Mitra, a newly arrived young bride, anxiously awaits her first letter from home in India. When she accidentally opens the wrong letter, it changes her life. Decades later, her son Amit finds that letter and thinks he has discovered his mother's secret. But secrets have their own secrets sometimes.
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another great book by Roy
- By Amazon Customer on 04-27-15
By: Sandip Roy
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After the Parade
- By: Lori Ostlund
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Sensitive, big-hearted, and achingly self-conscious, 40-year-old Aaron Englund long ago escaped the confines of his Midwestern hometown, but he still feels like an outcast. After 20 years under the Pygmalion-like direction of his older partner, Walter, Aaron at last decides it is time to stop letting life happen to him and to take control of his own fate.
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Narrator
- By Barbara on 11-10-24
By: Lori Ostlund
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The Other Mother
- By: Rachel Harper
- Narrated by: January LaVoy, William DeMeritt
- Length: 14 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Jenry Castillo is a musical prodigy, raised by a single mother in Miami, who arrives at Brown University on a scholarship—but also to learn more about his late father, Jasper Patterson, a famous ballet dancer who died tragically when Jenry was two. On his search, he meets his estranged grandfather, Winston Patterson, a legendary professor of African American history and a fixture at the Ivy League school, who explodes his world with one question: Why is Jenry so focused on Jasper, when it was Winston’s daughter, Juliet, who was Jenry’s mother’s lover?
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Very good.
- By Roland Harper on 05-22-22
By: Rachel Harper
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The Poison Tree
- By: Erin Kelly
- Narrated by: Jennifer Ikeda
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Successful journalist Erin Kelly has electrified readers and critics alike with her debut novel The Poison Tree. In this scintillating work, Karen and her daughter Alice have established a safe, happy life free from the madness of Karen’s past. But when Karen’s former lover Rex is released from prison, her old associations intrude upon the present - and threaten everything she holds dear.
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I couldn't stop listening the book.
- By Gladys on 07-29-15
By: Erin Kelly
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So begins Kaikeyi’s story. The only daughter of the kingdom of Kekaya, she is raised on legends of the gods: how they churned the vast ocean to obtain the nectar of immortality, how they vanquish evil and ensure the land of Bharat prospers, and how they offer powerful boons to the devout and the wise. Yet she watches as her father unceremoniously banishes her mother, listens as her own worth is reduced to how great a marriage alliance she can secure. And when she calls upon the gods for help, they never seem to hear.
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What listeners say about The Namesake
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Andrew
- 11-10-03
Good... but not great.
Being a non-resident Indian myself lots of the content and description in this book really struck a familiar cord with me. The author did a good job of portraying the trials, tribulations, joys, and sorrows of an Indian family that moved to "Umrica." A good first effort (this is her first book right?). But she could have done more with the story -- with the plot. Without giving it all away it's basically just about an Indian couple that moves to the U.S. in their 20's, has two kids here, and then it follows through with the life of the first born -- a boy named Gogol -- till his 30's or so. Overall it was good but lacked a zeal that I felt when reading the books of two other favorite Indian authors of mine -- Manil Suri and Abraham Verghese -- now they are experts... really great story-tellers. All in all The Namesake is a good book -- I'll be on the lookout for an improved follow-up title by this author down the road.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Prince
- 07-02-10
Lacked depth
It is as if the story teller related the events to an encyclopedia writer. The facts are there, but I felt that the writing style lacked color and depth. There was so little detail, that much of the book felt like it was a plot summary of another book. Most conversations and events were boiled down to a couple of sentences about the topic, with few literary embellishments. This style covered the material efficiently which does allow the reader to "get it over with" quickly, which is a benefit if your only goal is to read this book as a school requirement. If you are reading for enjoyment though, a little more descriptivness might improve the story. There were some descriptions of cultural tensions, but on the whole, the lives of the characters were unremarkable with the normal ups and down of a lifetime of relationships.
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- Anonymous User
- 01-25-21
Wonderfully written
Truly immersed myself in the story and felt the difference in cultural identities from immigrant generation to first generation.
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- M. Seda
- 04-12-19
Incredible writing, storytelling, great narration
This was such a great listen. Lahiri's storytelling style is incredible! she has a way of drawing you into each character or event (whether significant or not) and giving it nuance to make it all remarkable in some way. The narration is perfection - the best I've ever listened to.
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-22-17
Great book
A story I'll never forget. Definitely a must read for anyone in their early years of life.
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Overall
- Lisa
- 03-07-07
Can't wait for the movie!
I loved the reader and thoroughly enjoyed learning more about Indian culture and families. The story follows the life of the main character, Goggle (?) from childhood to adulthood, and his day to day struggles, which, although not terribly exciting, were terribly real. I can't wait for the movie.
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Overall
- Nitin
- 03-08-04
Every ABCD Should Listen to This
I feel I have a greater understanding of my parents from reading this book and also myself. I found parts of my own life described in such great detail that it was almost scary. The details of my parents get-togethers at the Nights of Columbus, to our drives to Logan for our flights back to India, to sneaking into MIT parties as a high-school student...
It took me a while to listen to the second half after relating to the main character so closely throughout the first half . The turning point in the book occurred at a point in the character's life that I am at right now and prospect of dealing with what he had to is ... I really don't know how to express it.
After finishing this book I almost felt angry at Lahiri for leaving it at that. But I don't think this book was as much about closure as it was about understanding. This book is all to real to be considered fiction.
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Overall
- Penny
- 11-07-03
A
This was a great book--deserving of a "5". I reserve my "5" ratings only for the special book that comes along rarely! Beautifully written and read.
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9 people found this helpful
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Performance
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Story
- Lua Wilkinson
- 07-13-15
Ok on a roadtrip
Any additional comments?
Not the best, not the worst. Like her short stories, but this novel was a little taxing for me. I am still not quite sure what the underlying thesis of the book is.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Suzanne H
- 02-26-07
Beautiful
Beautifully written and beautifully read. I loved this book. I initially thought I had nothing in common with main character (which is fine, it is not something I look for in a book either way), but as the story unfolded I felt a real connection to him. I understood how he felt about things. All the characters were very real, very human. For me, it is a story about life in America, about family, about relationships, and about understanding the importance of one's roots.
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1 person found this helpful