Lahiri's first novel, The Namesake (2003), is a story that began with an incident in the author's childhood. In her parents' Bengali culture, each child has two names, a pet name used by family and friends and a "good name" used more formally. Lahiri's first American teacher found her good name too difficult and began using the private, pet name without understanding how inappropriate this was. The incident was such a powerful example of the cultural dissonance experienced by immigrants and children of immigrants that Lahiri made it the starting point of her novel.

The Unknown Errors of Our Lives: Stories (2002) is a collection of nine stories with female protagonists. Its author, Chitra Divakaruni, is an American immigrant fromIndia who explores the same issues as does Lahiri, but from the point of view of the older generation born abroad.

The Middleman...