fine

Jhumpa Lahiri is an Indian-American writer. A bit like the Chinese-American writer Amy Tan. In 2000, Jhumpa published her first book, "Interpreter of Maladies" (probably translated into "passenger" in Chinese? But most of the people in the book who need to take the pulse are not sick people, but sick marriages). This collection of short stories was an instant hit, winning the Pulitzer Prize that year. "The Namesake" was the first novel she wrote after that. It was recently made into a movie. Went to see it today.

The short story collection "The Pulse Man" is very good. There are several boutiques in there. "The Same Celebrity" felt okay when I read the book back then, but it only stayed on the good side. Overall, it wasn't as good as "Take the Pulse". I watched the movie today, and it felt exactly the same as when I read the novel back then.

A story about the life of an Indian immigrant family in the United States. The generation gap between the two generations. Very similar to Chinese immigrants. The older generation in the movie has more brush and ink, and it is also vivid. The scene of "arranged marriage", which is still very popular among Indians, is very beautiful. Indian traditional way of life and street scenes are very well shot. Sophisticated and authentic. The new generation has a lot less pen and ink, and it is a bit vague and lacking in confidence.

Some of the short stories in "Passenger" are about the life of the older generation of immigrants, and some about the marriage and distress of the new generation of Indian-Americans born and raised in the United States. Each of the two short stories is wonderful in its own way. "The Same Name" tries to write both, but the result seems to be a bit careless. In other words, the generation gap between the two generations in life still exists in the book, and the story of the two generations is still as insoluble as oil and water. It's embarrassing to look at each other across the "ditch". So in the end I felt something was missing. So just okay. Maybe the final problem is the title of the book. The name "Gogol" has become the only connection between the two generations, which is too thin.

At the end of the day, if you liked the book Namesame, you should also like the movie because it recreates the book so faithfully. When I watch a movie, just like when I read a book, I cry where I should cry and laugh where I should laugh. If you've seen The Pulser and liked it but haven't read The Same Name, you might as well go see the movie The Same Name. In it, you can see some shadows of "The Pulse Man". If you've read the book "The Same Name" and you're disappointed and hope the movie will fix it, then don't watch the movie.

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