(3/49) A book that made me cry : The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Namesake takes the Ganguli family from their tradition-bound life in Calcutta through their fraught transformation into Americans. On the heels of their arranged wedding, Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli settle together in Cambridge, Massachusetts. An engineer by training, Ashoke adapts far less warily than his wife, who resists all things American and pines for her family. When their son is born, the task of naming him betrays the vexed results of bringing old ways to the new world. Named for a Russian writer by his Indian parents in memory of a catastrophe years before, Gogol Ganguli knows only that he suffers the burden of his heritage as well as his odd, antic name. Lahiri brings great empathy to Gogol as he stumbles along the first-generation path, strewn with conflicting loyalties, comic detours, and wrenching love affairs. (Goodreads)

They say reading the right book at the right time can make all the difference in the world. I think this is completely true.
The first time I read The Namesake was when I was 16 years old. I lived with my parents, I went to school in my hometown, I would hang out with friends I knew all my life. And at that time, this book had no impact on me - because I just couldn't relate to it. In fact, I even dismissed it as an overrated book.
The second time I read The Namesake was now. When I'm 23 years old, doing my graduate studies in the United States, living here on my own for an year now, away from everything and everyone familiar. This time, the book changed something in me. I always think the best books leave you a little bit changed when you finish them.
I connected to the narrative and the characters on so many levels. I understood Gogol, I resented Nikhil, I loved Ashoke, I sympathized with Ashima, I related with Moushumi. The Namesake moved me like no other book has in a long time now.

ps - My mom's reading this book right now. I wonder what she thought about it.