THE NAMESAKE QUOTES

“We all have our stories of origin. It is who we are, how we come to be.” – Ashima Ganguli

“For his father, Gogol Ganguli was still a mindless baby boy, helpless, innocent, and unknowing.” – Narrator

“He hates it, and the reason he hates it is that it has become for him a reminder of the in-between space he occupies.” – Narrator

“This table, this solid fact before him, is the only thing he knows. As he stares at his name, saying the words to himself silently, he feels himself sinking, losing a bit of who he is.” – Narrator

“Ashima has no way of knowing that for Gogol it means being shaken awake by the loud, insistent cries of a blind dog.” – Narrator

“At school, they stick her in the closet.” – Narrator

“Gogol realizes that he has now entered into the world of the kind of teenagers he has always been intimidated by.” – Narrator

“Gogol stands outside the abandoned factory-turned-club.” – Narrator

“He is finally aware, as he never has been before, of the name that defines him…But it is only in looking back that he can see his story for what it is.” – Narrator “What he longs for above all else at the moment—the thing that frightens him a little—is to be known fully, to be known to the core of who he is, without doubt or question.” – Narrator

“He has come to accept Gogol not just as a pet name, but as its own separate entity.” – Narrator

“For now, all he wants is to lose himself, to forget about his name, his book, his father.” – Narrator

“He inscribes her name across his chest, his heart, his wife.” – Narrator SNAKEY QUOTES

“Nothing in the world is harder than calling a child differently from what he is named.” – Ashima Ganguli

“For Sonia, the birth of her brother is a disappointment as well.” – Narrator

“But there are certain experiences in our lives that shape us, Some leave us stronger, some leave us weak.” – Ashima Ganguli

“She is deeply tired, practically breathless with the weight of all she has left behind, all she has to look forward to.” – Narrator

“But as he looks at the earring he realizes that the person he bought it for would wear it only because she had to.” – Narrator

“His infatuation has left him with nothing but this realization.” – Narrator

“It is, after all, only a moth, stunning and survivor of a species precariously on the brink of extinction.” – Narrator

“It has been a predictably boring, difficult day at his current job.” – Narrator

“Each tiny photo is like a scrap of raw material, an ingredient in a recipe.” – Narrator

“Gogol is proud of the card, but when he tells his mother about it, she is distracted, watching the stove.” – Narrator

“He supposes it’s not all that different from her obsession with her indoor garden, feeding the African violets, repotting the orchids, sometimes talking to them.” – Narrator