"The Namesake" is Jhumpa Lahiri's first novel - a finely written story, a touching family drama that highlights topics close to the author, such as the life of emigrants, the clash of different cultures, conflicts of generations. Jhumpa Lahiri's first collection of stories - "The Interpreter of Maladies" shocked the literary world world and received the Pulitner Prize in 2000. The hero of the novel has a unique name - Gogol... Out of principle, he does not open the book of his “namesake”, given to him by his father. Gogol changes his name, tries to start a family, but at some point he suddenly realizes that his chosen American women are alien to him. Is it really all the fault of the one whose last name became his destiny? Sympathizing and penetrating deeply into the essence of the problem, the author tells what hopes our relatives place on us and how we ultimately become who we are.