Gold Diggers
Ratings13
Average rating3.5
One of The Washington Post's 10 Best Books of 2021 * One of NPR's Best Books of 2021 * New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice * Long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize “Dizzyingly original, fiercely funny, deeply wise.” —Celeste Ng, #1 bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere “Sanjena Sathian’s Gold Diggers is a work of 24-karat genius.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post How far would you go for a piece of the American dream? A magical realist coming-of-age story, Gold Diggers skewers the model minority myth to tell a hilarious and moving story about immigrant identity, community, and the underside of ambition. A floundering second-generation teenager growing up in the Bush-era Atlanta suburbs, Neil Narayan is funny and smart but struggles to bear the weight of expectations of his family and their Asian American enclave. He tries to want their version of success, but mostly, Neil just wants his neighbor across the cul-de-sac, Anita Dayal. When he discovers that Anita is the beneficiary of an ancient, alchemical potion made from stolen gold—a “lemonade” that harnesses the ambition of the gold’s original owner—Neil sees his chance to get ahead. But events spiral into a tragedy that rips their community apart. Years later in the Bay Area, Neil still bristles against his community's expectations—and finds he might need one more hit of that lemonade, no matter the cost. Sanjena Sathian’s astonishing debut offers a fine-grained, profoundly intelligent, and bitingly funny investigation into what's required to make it in America. Soon to be a series produced by Mindy Kaling!
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Hmm. This is definitely a book that I've been thinking about since I read it. I have an ongoing struggle with “magical realism” (I'm putting that in quotes because this book's own blurb calls it magical realism but I know that there is a school of thought that says only Latinx writing should be considered magical realism), anyway, like I tend to get a little stuck on what's literally supposed to be happening if the fantasy elements are meant to just be symbolic or whatever. Like I have a degree in English and I'm still just like “yeah but what HAPPENED.”
Like, and I don't think this is a spoiler because it's again the literal main premise of the book, if these characters are stealing gold and using alchemy to then drink the life force of their peers...like I get it as a commentary about competitiveness and ambition but then what does that mean for sort of the central problem of the novel? That is to say, when Shruti kills herself because Neil took too much gold from her, what exactly is this a metaphor for? Is it meant to be rape? Or just too much competition? But Neil wasn't even like really competitive with her, not the way Anita was? Or just...I don't know.
The parts I liked the best were Neil's historical research into the Gold Rush and the hidden history of South Asian immigrants.
The parts I liked the least were Neil's relationship with Anita...like IDK it had real vibes of like “area man earns girl next door's affections (?) by being nice-ish.” ??? I would have been interested to read some parts from Anita's POV.
Anyway...an interesting read that kept me engaged but also ??? And like I wish it had leaned fully into the alchemy aspect. Why can't it just be serious adult fiction that has actual alchemy instead of ~magical realism alchemy flavor~???
