The Namesake

                                                                                                                                               

Book menu for The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

ISBN of edition I read: 0618485228

We read this for my book group.  I had looked forward to it since the movie adaptation looked good. I was disappointed with the writing: much of the story is written in the passive voice.  I am not sure this novel works in the present tense.  It had potential and I was interested in the connection to Russian authors. I happened to be reading Anna Karenina while trudging through The Namesake. I was all too glad to finish the chore of Lahiri's novel and devote myself entirely to Tolstoy!

Food mentioned in The Namesake : (highlights)
Lamb curry, 10, 72
Dal, 10, 39, 72, 162, 180, 276
Pistachio ice cream, 10
Broccoli quiche, 33
Samosas, 35, 50, 147-149
Goat and potato stew, 37
Halwa, 38
Biryani, 39, 164
Chicken curry and rice, 54
Tandoori, 64, 229
Sandeshes, 72
Bouillabaise, 137, 198
Osso buco, 137
Pink lassi, 147
Aloo dum, 155
Paella with clams and mussels, 156
Sancerre (wine), 198
Porcini ravioli, 203
Coq au vin, 209
Mishti, 216
Aloo gobi, 223
Pakoras, 229
Spaghetti allo vongole, 241
Falafel sandwich, 271
Blood oranges, 272
Mincemeat croquettes, 274
Lamb korma, 277
Sweet yogurt and pantuas, 277

Books/Authors mentioned in The Namesake:
Nikolai Gogol, 13, 17, 21, 28-9, 56, 66, 77, 88
     "The Overcoat " (short story), epigraph, 89, 245, 290
     The Stories of Nikolai Gogol, 74, 288
     "The Nose" (short story), 89
     The Government Inspector (play), 90
     Dead Souls (novel),90-91
Alfred Tennyson , 7, 29
William Wordsworth , 7, 29
     "The Daffodils" (poem), 9
Aristotle, 7
William Shakespeare , 7, 118
     Timon of Athens, 110
Charles Dickens, 12
Graham Greene, 12
     The Comedians , 173
Somerset Maugham, 12
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 78
      The Brothers Karamazov , 13
 Leo Tolstoy
      Anna Karenina, 13
     War and Peace, 13 
Ivan Turgenev, 91
      Fathers and Sons , 13
The Cat in the Hat / Dr. Seuss, 50
The Hardy Boys / Franklin W. Dixon, 78
Pride and Prejudice / Jane Austen, 73
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy / Douglas Adams, 75
The Hobbit (Movie Tie-In) / J.R.R. Tolkien, 75
Laura Ingalls Wilder, 83
The Great Gatsby / F. Scott Fitzgerald, 88
The Good Earth (Oprah's Book Club) / Pearl S. Buck, 88
The Red Badge of Courage / Stephen Crane, 88
Ethan Frome / Edith Wharton, 88
William Faulkner, 89
Ernest Hemingway, 89
"The Necklace and Other Tales (Modern Library Classics)" / Guy de Maupassant, 90
Alexandr Pushkin, 90
Divided Soul:The Life of Gogol / Henri Troyat, 92
Nietzche, 93
Moliere, 99
Oscar Wilde, 114
Virginia Woolf, 114
Journey to the East / Le Corbusier,, 116
Ben Johnson (poet), 121
Gustave Flaubert, 255
The Man without Qualities / Robert Musil, 259
The Red and the Black / Stendhal, 261
Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, 267
Marcel Proust, 267
The Swiss Family Robinson / Johann David Wyss, 288
On the Road / Jack Kerouac, 288
The Communist Manifesto / Karl Marx, 288

Magazines mentioned in The Namesake:
Desh, 16, 44
Time , 51, 55
National Geographic , 76
Reader's Digest , 98
The New Yorker , 109
Food & Wine , 270

Movies mentioned in The Namesake:
Gone with the Wind , 30
The Seven Year Itch , 30
Ritwik Ghatek, 38
Satyajit Ray, 38
The Big Chill , 87
The Rocky Horror Picture Show , 93
I, Claudius, 135
Alphaville, 259

Music mentioned in The Namesake:
Nazrul, 38
Tagore, 78
The Beatles, 116
     The White Album , 74
     Abbey Road , 269
Bob Dylan, 93, 99
Eric Clapton, 93
The Clash
     London Calling , 102
Talking Heads, 77, 102
Brian Eno , 105
Elvis Costello, 105
Charlie Parker , 105
Simon and Garfunkel, 117
Neil Young , 117
Cat Stevens, 117
Abba , 224
Bossa Nova, 228
Crosby, Stills & Nash, 257
Bartok , 266

Television programs mentioned in The Namesake:
The Price is Right, 54
Guiding Light, 54
$10,000 Pyramid, 54
Sesame Street, 54
Electric Company, 54
The Love Boat , 73, 211
Fantasy Island , 73, 211

Libraries mentioned in The Namesake:
pages 48-50, 56, 66, 71, 104, 107, 114, 120, 149, 160, 162-3, 168, 238, 257, 279