Gogol

A line that really struck me as a great simple character description was, "It has never occurred to him to buy his wife flowers." I also liked the advice Ghosh gives Ashoke. He tells him, "without thinking too much about it first, pack a pillow and a blanket and see as much of the world as you can. You will not regret it. One day it will be too late." Up until the train derailing this story was immensley boring to me. Had I not needed to read it for this class I would have quit reading it before I got to the interesting part. Ashoke dealing with worrying about not being able to do the mundane day to day things of life to the point of dreaming about them was very moving. Ashoke recovers and lives to see his baby boy born. Once again, I was ready to put click the little "X" in the upper left hand corner of my computer window. I did find it amusing how little thought Ashoke and his wife put into the naming of their son. While the name choice is obvious, prior to choosing it they placed all faith in the name their grandmother would choose. I have little to no connection to the characters; I just don't care about them. Maybe it's because I can't relate to them-- they are in a different world from me. I can't imagine moving to a different country, or giving birth, or placing so much emphasis on family heritage and tradition.