One of the things that struck me the most about this book is how important names really are. I could completely understand how Gogol's identity was so confused, because I at some points have felt like that. I share a name with my mother, my paternal grandmother and one of my aunts. So I’ve always felt at odds with my name. And sharing a name with a great Russian writer is probably a lot worse than sharing it with half of my family.

The novel revolves around an Indian family living on the States and their eledest kid, Gogol. The father, Ashoke, is a great fan of Gogol’s work. Once, he was on a train accident (back in India) and he survived because he used a page of Gogol’s “The Overcoat” to alert the rescuers of his presence. So, he feels as he owes the writer his life. When he and his wife have their first child, they can’t follow the naming tradition of their families (Ashima’s grandmother was supposed to pick the name of the baby, but the letter never arrived), so they name him after Gogol.

Gogol struggles all his life with his name, with his family and with their expectations for him. He has to deal with being a second-generation immigrant and having to conciliate two different cultures and identities (which you can also read in Amy Tan’s work, mind you). I really loved how he tried to fight his parent’s expectations. He doesn’t date Indian girls at first, though he ends up marrying (and divorcing) one. But it is not only about being an immigrant, I feel that all of us at some point try to show that we’re not our parents. In Gogol’s case, his name was a very obvious representation of his parents’ (specially his father’s) expectations. And his refusal of his name (he changes it a few times through the novel) is also a rejection of their hopes. He continually does things that his parents don’t approve.

Identity is one of those things that are a struggle. Fighting with it is just something we all do. And I love how Jhumpa Lahiri works with these themes. It felt really realistic and down-to-earth.

But in the end, Gogol/Nikhil discovers that you don’t have to be one of the other. There’s something in between. That accepting expectations and different cultures is not the end of the world. When he picks Nikolai Gogol’s book in the end, he is in a way accepting his father (who is dead by that point of the book) and himself at the same time. It was a lovely scene, and summed up the themes of the novel and it brought them to a round end. It is still an open ending, because we’re not really sure of what is going to happen with him. But we still get a sense that everything is going to be okay.

So, I’d recommend this novel. It might not be the ultimate immigrant experience novel, but it tells a story with which we can relate in different ways. Especially if you’re in your early twenties and still trying to figure out who you are.