# The Namesake

**Author:** Jhumpa Lahiri
**Grade range:** Grades 11–12
**Age range:** 16–17
**First published:** 2007
**Page count:** 291
**Genre:** Realistic Fiction
**ISBN-13:** `9780618485222`
**ISBN-10:** `0618485228`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/the-namesake
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

'When Her Grandmother Learned Of Ashima'S Pregnancy, She Was Particularly Thrilled At The Prospect Of Naming The Family'S First Sahib. And So Ashima And Ashoke Have Agreed To Put Off The Decision Of What To Name The Baby Until A Letter Comes&' For Now, The Label On His Hospital Cot Reads Simply Baby Boy Ganguli. But As Time Passes And Still No Letter Arrives From India, American Bureaucracy Takes Over And Demands That 'Baby Boy Ganguli' Be Given A Name. In A Panic, His Father Decides To Nickname Him 'Gogol' After His Favourite Writer.

## Themes

- alienation (social psychology)

## Where this book is assigned

### Common Core State Standards (ELA)

- **recommended** · 11th grade — [source: CCSS ELA Appendix B, grades 11-CCR story exemplar](https://www.nysed.gov/sites/default/files/programs/standards-instruction/appendix-b-text-exemplars-and-sample-performance-tasks.pdf)
- **recommended** · 12th grade — [source: CCSS ELA Appendix B, grades 11-CCR story exemplar](https://www.nysed.gov/sites/default/files/programs/standards-instruction/appendix-b-text-exemplars-and-sample-performance-tasks.pdf)

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