I love it when a movie stands up to the book. The Namesake does this. I loved the book and I loved the movie. I read the book a few months ago and found it moving and wonderful. The movie was moving and wonderful, too. I’ve been to India a few times and have had many Indian friends, but even so, even if I’d never been there and had never been immersed in the India community, I think I would have found it all there and not felt that I was missing something. Same thing re: the book. If you haven’t read it, you won’t find you’re at a loss. (Although I would read the book after you see the movie to fill in details.)

I had that experience with Little Children. I loved the book but really didn’t like the movie very much at all–and especially didn’t like the narration.

In The Namesake, the only thing I thought was off a bit was why Ashok wants to name his and Ashima’s child Gogol, but that could be the trouble of my memory and not the movie.