Interpreter of maladies the namesake

The Namesake(2003/2006)Film Rated PG-13Written byJhumpa LahiriWho has also written Interpreter of MaladiesandUnaccustomed EarthFilm directed byMira NairWho has also directed Salaam Bombay!andMonsoon WeddingKey CharactersGogol (Nikhil) GanguliAshima GanguliAshoke GanguliIntroductionMoving between events in Calcutta, Boston, and New York City, the novel examines the nuances involved with being caught between two conflicting cultures with their highly distinct religious, social, and ideological differences.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_NamesakeOn a sticky August evening two weeks before her due date, Ashima Ganguli stands in the kitchen of a Central Square apartment combining Rice Krispies and Planters peanuts nad chopped red onion in a bowl. She adds salt, lemon juice, thin slices of green chili pepper wishing there were mustard oil to pour into the mix. Ashima has been consuming this concoction throughout her pregnancy, a humble approximation of the snack sold for pennies on Calcutta sidewalks and on railway platforms throughout India, spilling from newspaper cones. Even now that there is barely space inside her, it is the one thing she craves. Tasting from a cupped palm, she frowns; as usual, there’s something missing. (p 1)AwardsLahiri has won a Pulitzer Prizefor LiteratureNovel was a New York Times BestsellerFilmwon the Golden Aphroditeat the Bulgaria International Film FestivalNominatedat the 2007 Gotham Awards for Best FilmNominated for the IndependentSpirit Award; Best SupportingMaleReviewsEditorial Review by Claire Dedererfromwww.amazon.comAny talk of The Namesake--Jhumpa Lahiri's follow-up to her Pulitzer Prize-winning debut, Interpreter of Maladies--must begin with a name: Gogol Ganguli. Born to an Indian academic and his wife, Gogol is afflicted from birth with a name that is neither Indian nor American nor even really a first name at all...Awkwardness is Gogol's birthright. He grows up a bright American boy, goes to Yale, has pretty girlfriends, becomes a successful architect, but like many second-generation immigrants, he can never quite find his place in the world.