Talk:The Namesake (novel)

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Infobox[edit]

I added the infobox and am fairly sure all that info is correct. I'm not totally sure what genre, though. Any ideas on that?PhoenixJ 23:13, 20 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Calcutta vs. Kolkata[edit]

Although "Kolkata" is the preferred spelling in many contexts, I believe that the book uses the old spelling "Calcutta". I think that the 01:18, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

Summer reading[edit]

I really don't think it's notable that a handful of universities made it their required reading for one grade level one summer. Should every single book that's ever been assigned in such a way have that noted in its article? If there's no good reason to keep this trivia, it should be removed. --Icarus ^(Hi!) 22:45, 16 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Vandalism in characters section[edit]

"His best friend is Ian Herner who is a sexy man" appears under one of the characters' bios. I haven't read the book, and I'm checking before deleting it just incase it's a some sort of humor relating to the book (probably not, but better safe than sorry).--Romulus 03:18, 21 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks!--Romulus 03:34, 22 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

WikiProject class rating[edit]

This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as stub, and the rating on other projects was brought up to Stub class. BetacommandBot 20:08, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Vibhutidikshit (talk) 16:00, 15 March 2013 (UTC)== Plot Summary ==[reply]

The plot summary is detailed extensively, mentioned twice and has incorrect grammar. Is it possible to delete the second one? I think the first one is sufficient as an outline.

Clarity of Plot Summary[edit]

The writing of the plot summary is mediocre at best, and at times, outright poor, not only in its wording, but in its vaguess and in the fact that details are mentioned without any explanation as to their relevance, while details that do seem to be relevant are left out. Here are some passages:

Some element of the summary need to be clarified:

The traditional naming process in their families is to have an elder give the new baby a name, and the new parents await a letter sent by Ashima's grandmother. The letter never arrives, and soon after, the grandmother dies. Bengali culture calls for a child to have two names, a pet name to be called by family, and a good name to be used in public. Ashoke suggests the name of Gogol, in honor of the famous Russian author Nikolai Gogol, to be the baby's pet name, and they use this name on the birth certificate. As a young man, Ashoke survived a train derailment with many fatalities. He had been reading a short story collection by Gogol just before the accident, and lying in the rubble of the accident he clutched a single page of the story "The Overcoat" in his hand. With many broken bones and no strength to move or call out, dropping the crumpled page is the only thing Ashoke can do to get the attention of medics looking for survivors. Though the pet name has deep significance for the baby's parents, it is never intended to be used by anyone other than family.

So what's the kid's "good name"? The paragraph never says.

Also, what's the significance or relevance of the grandmother? The relevance of her letter and death to the story is never made clear.

While taking a train home for the summer, Gogol's train is suddenly stopped and temporarily loses electricity. A man had jumped in front of the train and committed suicide, and the wait for the authorities causes a long delay. Ashoke, who is waiting at the train station for Gogol, becomes very concerned when he calls the train company and hears of this incident. When they pull into the Ganguli's driveway, Ashoke turns off the car and finally explains the true significance of Gogol's name. Gogol is deeply troubled by this news, asking his father why he didn't tell him this earlier. He starts to regret changing his name and changing his identity.

Waitaminute--the summary goes from Ashoke hearing about the accident from the train company, and then jumps to "they" pulling into the Ganguili's driveway. From the subsequent sentences we understand that "they" means Ashoke and Gogol. What happened? How did Gogol and Ashoke meet up? Shouldn't this have been specified? And what is the significance of the train delay? How is this relevant? The editor who wrote this never says. Nightscream (talk) 15:15, 11 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]