The Golden House
Ratings8
Average rating3.9
15
Ratings8
Average rating3.9
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A modern American epic set against the panorama of contemporary politics and culture—a hurtling, page-turning mystery that is equal parts The Great Gatsby and The Bonfire of the Vanities ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: NPR, PBS, Harper’s Bazaar, Esquire, Financial Times, The Times of India On the day of Barack Obama’s inauguration, an enigmatic billionaire from foreign shores takes up residence in the architectural jewel of “the Gardens,” a cloistered community in New York’s Greenwich Village. The neighborhood is a bubble within a bubble, and the residents are immediately intrigued by the eccentric newcomer and his family. Along with his improbable name, untraceable accent, and unmistakable whiff of danger, Nero Golden has brought along his three adult sons: agoraphobic, alcoholic Petya, a brilliant recluse with a tortured mind; Apu, the flamboyant artist, sexually and spiritually omnivorous, famous on twenty blocks; and D, at twenty-two the baby of the family, harboring an explosive secret even from himself. There is no mother, no wife; at least not until Vasilisa, a sleek Russian expat, snags the septuagenarian Nero, becoming the queen to his king—a queen in want of an heir. Our guide to the Goldens’ world is their neighbor René, an ambitious young filmmaker. Researching a movie about the Goldens, he ingratiates himself into their household. Seduced by their mystique, he is inevitably implicated in their quarrels, their infidelities, and, indeed, their crimes. Meanwhile, like a bad joke, a certain comic-book villain embarks upon a crass presidential run that turns New York upside-down. Set against the strange and exuberant backdrop of current American culture and politics, The Golden House also marks Salman Rushdie’s triumphant and exciting return to realism. The result is a modern epic of love and terrorism, loss and reinvention—a powerful, timely story told with the daring and panache that make Salman Rushdie a force of light in our dark new age.
Reviews with the most likes.
This was strangely my first Rushdie novel and clearly will not be the last. So many aspects of the modern life - be it political, personal, questions of identity, social are a part of the narrative and seamlessly done. Initially, it took me some time to get into it as the story telling is a little slanting, nothing is hit directly, but, once I got into it, I found it hard to put down.
I would definitely recommend the book to anyone interested in family relationships and their dynamics.
I usually don't mind Rushdie, but for some reason I just couldn't get on with this book. I thought it might have something to do with the narrator or the source material (although I have started reading the Brothers Karamazov and much prefer it), but I thought it was a fine example of the kind of lit fic that went out of fashion due to alienating readers by being overblown and pretentiously intellectual. To me, modern litfic is accessible to readers who don't have a comprehensive knowledge of obscure lit, cinema and culture. I also didn't appreciate what I saw as the token autistic video games programmer and the miserable gender fluid person. If you are going to introduce these characters, for the sake of all that is decenct explore them in a meaningful, fresh way. Two stars is a harsh rating from me, but it ends up reserved for books that waste their potential, because that is what makes me angry, when underneath all the intellectual posturing and failing characters is a better book waiting to emerge.
DNF @ 33% I think I was too ambitious to dive into this lofty, and dare I say, pretentious novel with 3 small children demanding every minute of my time. I'll have to stick to thrillers and YA for the next few years. Your time will come Mr. Rushdie.
Despite laughing out loud more than I have with any other book, dnf. Do people HAVE to be weird to be interesting? I don't think so...
