to Ohio to gather his father's belongings and his father's ashes. Gogol gradually withdraws from Maxine, eventually breaking up with her. He begins to spend more time with his mother and sister, Sonia. Later, Ashima suggests that Gogol contact Moushumi, the daughter of one of her friends, whom Gogol knew when they were children, and who broke up with her fiancé Graham shortly before their wedding. Gogol is reluctant to meet with Moushumi because she is Bengali, but does so anyway to please his mother. Moushumi and Gogol are attracted to one another and eventually are married. However, by the end of their first year of marriage, Moushumi becomes restless. She feels tied down by marriage and begins to regret it. Gogol also feels like a poor substitute for Graham. He feels betrayed when she casually reveals his old name at a party with her friends. Eventually, Moushumi has an affair with Dimitri, an old acquaintance, the revelation of which leads to the end of their marriage. With Sonia preparing to marry her fiancé, a Chinese-American named Ben, Gogol is once again alone. As Ashima prepares to return to India, Gogol picks up a collection of the Russian author's stories that his father had given him as a birthday present many years ago. Film adaptation A film adaptation of the novel was released in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and India in March 2006. It was directed by Mira Nair and featured a screenplay written by Sooni Taraporevala. Bengali version The Namesake was published in Bengali by Ananda Publishers on 2005 under the title Samanamiie (বাংলা:সমনামী) translated by Paulami Sengupta. See also Nikolai Gogol References External links Powell's review 2003 American novels Indian novels adapted into films Novels by Jhumpa Lahiri Works originally published in The New Yorker Novels set in Kolkata Novels set in Boston Novels set in New York City Houghton Mifflin books Indian diaspora in fiction American novels adapted into films 2003 Indian novels Indian-American culture 2003 debut novels