The Namesake

This Jhumpa Lahiri novel goes nowhere fast. Again, I found my attention wandering as I got into the first few chapters and never really finished the book. I bought the book because I had read and liked a version of this novel that appeared as a short story in the New Yorker. That story was a stereotypical New Yorker short story, but at least it crystallized the meandering descriptions of this novel into something resembling a plot. This novel seems to have padded that story to interminable length, delving into mysterious realms that have little bearing on real life. Sorry, but my limited attention span couldn't bear the long-windedness of this novel. Maybe if I had nothing but leisure time I could recommend this novel, but it's just not that absorbing of a novel, so maybe no matter how much time I had, it wouldn't be worth it. Not recommended (again, even though I only read the first few chapters).