Dave Dash

Like a good second generation Desi I saw The Namesake after recently completing the novel. Both are very good and I recommend reading the book and watching the movie, although not necessarily in that order.

The following should not spoil the movie much, but are some criticisms that Katie and I had.

• The numbers don't add up. The ages mentioned in the movie do not make sense (i.e. the mother (Ashima) being nearly 45 and talking to her son (Gogol) who is at least 10 years older than her when she got married just doesn't make much sense.
• In the movie he graduates in 1996, but his graduation gift is dated as June 1995.
• When Gogol is flying to India the first time, they have some placements of the Northwest Airline logo, you know... back when it was Northwest Orient Airlines and the logo looked more like this:
  
• Of course, it also seemed that a lot of parts of this movie would be hard to understand without reading the book (or for that matter having a vague understanding of Bengali).

The movie however, was very good overall. The book is much better, as books tend to be, because they convey things that movies cannot. It really struck a chord with me, making me want to be with my family more, and reflect on my life (albeit my life is not nearly as bittersweet as Gogol's).