The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (and the film)

From Amazon.com:

Any 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. He is given the name by his father who, before he came to America to study at MIT, was almost killed in a train wreck in India. Rescuers caught sight of the volume of Nikolai Gogol's short stories that he held, and hauled him from the train. Ashoke gives his American-born son the name as a kind of placeholder, and the awkward thing sticks.

And now there's the film of the same name directed by Mira Nair and starring Kal Penn.

Read an extensive review here.

theteach

Notes on a Scandal

My Books and Brunch classes read and discussed What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller a couple of weeks ago. The book has a wonderful protagonist/narrator in the person of Barbara Covett, a lonely, frustrated older woman, who worms her way into the life of Sheba, a young attractive art teacher.

The scandal referred to in the title is Sheba's sexual relationship with one of her male students. However, if the book was only about the scandal, I would have never picked it for my classes. What's marvelous about the book is the character of Barbara, who is an "unreliable narrator" and who , while trying to be Sheba's friend, is writing a book based on Sheba's problems. Sheba's not aware that Barbara is writing the book. Therein lies the tension for the reader.

The reader soon begins to suspect that Barbara is not the friend she's believed to be; that, even if subconsciously, she has other designs on Sheba.

Today I found out that a film has been made of Heller's book. It's entitled Notes on a Scandal and it's currently in previews. Check out the International Movie Database (IMDB).

The film stars Cate Blanchett and Judy Dench. Can't wait. the teach :)