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The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

Ashima and Ashoke Ganguli are recent immigrants to Boston from India in 1968 when they give birth to their first child, a son. Their son ends up with the pet name of Gogul, when his "good name" never arrives from India. Gogul despises his name and grows up as American as he can while his parents cling to their Bengali past while living what appears to be a typical American suburban lifestyle. Jhumpa Lahiri (winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Interpreter of Maladies) has written a novel about immigrant lives, families, and bonds that can never be broken. The Namesake has received high praise from most reviewers. Michiko Kakutani begins her review for the New York Times, "Jhumpa Lahiri's quietly dazzling new novel, The Namesake, is that rare thing: an intimate, closely observed family portrait that effortlessly and discreetly unfolds to disclose a capacious social vision."