The Namesake

It's deceptively simple and straightforward. There's little embellishment but it manages to shine a piercing light on the immigrant experience: not only from those leaving the homes of their childhood but the second generation, railing against the conventions of their parents. It's the little details that kill me. The overexposed photo of the newborn Gogol with his parents, the walk to the lighthouse:

“Try to remember it always,” he said once Gogol had reached him, leading him slowly back across the breakwater, to where his mother and Sonia stood waiting. “Remember that you and I made this journey together to a place where there was nowhere left to go.”