Pakistani Readers discussion

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I have not yet started it. But will soon :)

Good.

I'm nearly done with my top 'currently reading' title and I'll start The Namesake right away.

Looking forward to discussing it with you guys.

Drop a line whoever is reading it so we know our group strength this month.

I will start reading it from tonight or tomorrow insha ALLAH

Not reading. Exams :/
I will read the next BOTM though, no question about it. Hope it's "A Game of Thrones". *fingers crossed*

I just downloaded the book. Will start it tonight.

Already read :)

Can you email it to me Maira?

Hina wrote: "Can you email it to me Maira?"

I also downloaded .. sent it to your mail .. check :)

Muhammad wrote: "Hina wrote: "Can you email it to me Maira?"

I also downloaded .. sent it to your mail .. check :)"

Got it. Thank you. :)

will be starting this by 2marrow..

set a date after which to discuss so that we get a time read it. and can read other comment/reviews.
say last week of month we can discuss BOTM.??

I'll start it tonight.

i finished two novel last week .
one was written by paulo kohlo Description from Akra and second was written by Rasool memon ( fourteen women)
really enjoyed both novels
now reading Tara Mirchandani (indian novelist) novel " Hath yogee"

I finished reading the book.

When do we get to discuss it, to tear it apart?

I didn't like it that much too. Was an average 2.5-3 star book for me. Consequently, Don't remember much about it. Will try to take a part in the discussions as muchas I can :)

i started it some while back i would speed up my reading to participate in the discussion.

Yusra, do read it, so we can all discuss its highs and lows.

I started it but it's on a pause right now. So very monotonous, seriously.

I finished novel of Haseeb kanheo ...Signature .

I started it, currently reading the on 5th chapter

Story is going well, but I felt like too much detail has been poured in while describing even the small things/event, got little boring that I've to skim through the descriptions. may it was written for people having no knowledge of indian culture.

Agreed, it has less story and more detail, at some points it feels like there isn't even any story and just well explained routine life.

Okay, so I read this book quite some time ago but here is what I remember.

I loved the beginning, especially when the story was being told from Ashima's POV (I am referring to the main protagonist's mother. Sorry if I got the name wrong). The whole part where her to-be husband comes to ask for her hand and how she adjusts to life in America was told beautifully. Lahiri gave a very unique new touch to something so traditional and which has seen quite some coverage in South Asian Literature specifically.

However, after that, everything seems cliched and repetitive. Sometimes I wonder if ABCD writers are limited to ABCD characters and their typical cliches. The story of Gogol (I believe :/) is something we have all read over and over again.

All in all, quite an average book for me. Was definitely worth one raead though.

I am on the 4th chapter. It is a drag.

Risha, you remember correctly. Her name was Ashima.

It has a compelling start which I enjoyed, especially the trope of Gogol - dual names, dual identities - which befitted the telling of a story of an immigrant.

But it soon descends into the most cliched treatment of South Asian migrant culture about which, Risha's right, we have read one thousand and one times.

Not incidentally, the best lines, best images, best metaphors come from the early pages, when Ms Lahiri must have worked hard to think out the best writing. She probably realised she was going too slow, and rushed through it on turbo speed to finish the book in the time her award allocated her. Result: the writing suffered hugely.

Apart from the 50 or so pages, the rest is a plate of commentary served with a good deal of applesauce.

@Jibran You're right. It was that part of the book which was the most memorable for me. I still remember the part where Ashima tried on her husband-to-be's shows.

*Shoes

BTW, admin when do we start discussing next month's book? Couldn't participate this month since I'd already read it but was hoping to join in for Feb

Yes, it was a wonderful image. I mentioned that in my review too. Ashima is introduced to the novelty of the United States through Ashoke's shoes the like of which she has not seen before.

And right afterwords there is another good image. When she slips into the shoes she feels the still-warm sweat from Ashoke's feet which was 'the closest thing she has ever come to the touch of a man'. Beautiful again.

Yes, was referring to that entire part too

But as soon as Gogol's life begins...

Need I say more?

Basically it is about how their culture became foreign as they adopted American everything.

a fragment of vivid imagery from The Namesake.

　　'She opens up the book to regard the streets and the landmarks she once knew. She thinks of her wasted fellowship. A large square of sunlight appears on the floor. The sun is directly behind her, and the shadow of her head spreads across the thick, silken pages, a few strands of her hair strangely magnified, quivering, as if viewed through a microscope. She leans back her head, closes her eyes. When she opens them a moment later the sun has slipped away, a lone sliver of it now diminishing into the floorboards, like the gradual closing of a curtain, causing the stark white pages of the book to turn gray.'

agreed to Hina, Risha and Jibran about the story being repititive and cliched.

there was a part early in the book where Ashoke suggests casually that they go out and Ashima comes out clad in her formal sarhi n ornaments n whatnots and Ashoke immediately regrets his suggestion.I thought that was a very funny scene.

You lose some of your old ways when you move to a place that follows an entirely different cultural reference. This part is obvious. This novel ought to have explored the ways that cause this conflict and how people deal with it. In The Namesake, however, the conflict is forced into the lives of its characters, somewhat artificially, without some good raisons d'être.

The alienation of characters is not explored. For instance, can you point out, besides Nikhil's disliking his pet name, why exactly he drifted away from what he thought was the 'Bengali-ness' of his parents? Sure, his visits to Calcutta in his childhood were terrible, but his parents didn't really force anything on him did they?

Later when Ms Lahiri expands on it, it is to hail the 'logical' and 'easygoing' American culture by putting down the Indian one as 'backward' and 'stuck up'.

Who knows, perhaps Ms Lahiri's Bengali family opposed her marriage to her Italian husband?

'Unlike Gerald and Lydia, who preside at the center of their dinners, his parents behaved more like caterers in their own home, solicitous and watchful, waiting until most of their guests' plates were stacked by the sink in order finally to help themselves.'
...
'He could not imagine them (his parents) taking part in one of the dinner table conversation.'

Cathartic to see this oft-observed thing captured in words.There's no concept of dinner table conversations in our parties.Its all just 'aur lein na, apne tou kuch khaia he nahi' and 'hor sunao' :-| :-D

@Tabeeb No I think the dinner table convos have vastly improved recently, esp in cities where politics now form a huge part of many varied subjects like fashion, the latest lawn sales (in women's cases). :P

I agree, Jibran. Sometimes when she depicts change in Gogol's life, it is either too abrupt or too unexplainable.

currently reading.... now its getting somewhere, very detailed writing. too much details
picking up the pace

Yes, Jalendhari Tabeeb, our hosts and hostesses see waiting on the table as their primary role. Constantly refilling dishes and thrusting them into guests' faces is seen as good hosting, whereas joining and engaging them in conversations is of secondary importance :D

And I also think American/Western dinner tables have all that's available in one go. You eat it and that's that. In desi parties, however, a constant stream of food top ups keeps coming in from the kitchen. Guests are expected to expand their stomachs to breaking point, or else it means they did not like the food. And even if you have cooks and servants to do the refilling, the hostess will nonetheless be on her toes to justify her role in the dawat.

Really liking the discussion.

“That's the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.”
― Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake

My favorite line from the book. The book started a little slow and i was having trouble keeping my interest in it but it was short lived.
An excellent read. will comment on it further after exams. :)

yeah. starting was slow and detailed to irritation point but if you keep the reading it really an awesome read.
love the comparisons by Gogal between families. they why described was great. still 100 pages to go. but now really into it

I wonder how books other than thriller genre could be worth of reading. The bored me to death.

That your opinion.

Haha if I want some thriller, I'll watch Tom and Jerry cartoons.

This book started slow, too much and also this was my exam month, that was delayed from December to jan. started almost last week, too much detailed story was just revolving not much happening. sometimes i just wanted to pass through the point but author wanted to tell us in DETAIL. but towards the middle and THE END. details was soo good.

certain scene was describe soo beautifully that i can visually imagine them. Cap Cod picnic, Gogal and His father hike was awesome. we get to enjoy every detail, what they were seeing, what was around them.
story cover whole span of life not just jumping around we enjoy and get to know the protagonist in every situation.

In just i think 2 pages we know everything (almost) of Moushumi to the child to college to calcutta to paris to back to NYU. Her life described in that detail and those missing part we can just compare to Gogal. their upbringing was somehow same.

Really Enjoying this book.

From what I remember, it was a fine book - I read it a while ago. I could relate to the characters' sense of alienation. However it became quite nonchalant near the end, as if the writer were struggling to keep the story gripping. It was as if the book consisted of two different sections and I liked the first better than the second.

the namesake in one line :

Write an essay on the difference between indian and american/foreign culture

Muhammad wrote: "the namesake in one line :

Write an essay on the difference between indian and american/foreign culture"

with every detail yo can get your hand on..... :)