Sanjena Sathian

"An Indian-American serio-comic and magical realist epic love story about the perils of ambition, tracing the mysterious alchemy of its characters' transformation from high school in an Atlanta suburb through young adulthood in the Bay Area"--

A Novel

Gold Diggers

JoAnna

** spoiler alert **
           Oh man, I loved this book so much.

I really fell in love with the characters in this novel. I found Neil's feelings for Anita extremely endearing (I have never shipped two characters so hard in my adult life lmao). As someone who also grew up in an immigrant community similar to Neil's, I found recognition in Anita's aversion to vulnerability and the Narayans' interest in the optics of success. 

I especially loved how the novel felt thematically coherent throughout. Sathian incorporated instances of "Gold Diggers" as both literal (the Dayals stealing gold from family friends, Neil's search for the Bombayan as a history grad student) and metaphoric (manifesting first as high school immigrant ambition, and then within Silicon Valley).

Lastly, point of telling vs. point of story was used SO WELL. I really enjoyed all the foreshadowing from the start, with allusions to Neil's adult life and his future studies in history.

I have been waiting for an immigrant novel like this one, and I'm so glad I finally found it. This novel was incredible - I'm excited to recommend it to the people I grew up with.

‘Achingly familiar and marvellously inventive… a dizzyingly original, fiercely funny, deeply wise novel’ Celeste Ng ‘Completely original, utterly absorbing, complex and confident’ Karen Joy Fowler ‘Truly funny, insightful, smart, and filled with wonderful characters… unmissable’ Ann Napolitano Anyone can be extraordinary. But it comes at a price… Neil Narayan’s parents moved to America for a better life, and his perfect older sister is now headed to an elite university. Neil is funny and smart, but he is not living up to his parents’ dream. While he tries to want their version of success, mostly, Neil just wants his neighbour across the street, Anita Dayal. Once a lot like Neil, Anita is truly thriving, academically, athletically and socially. Anita has a secret: she and her mother Anjali have been brewing an ancient alchemical potion from stolen gold that harnesses the ambition of the jewellery's original owner. Anita just needs a little boost to get into Harvard. When Neil – who needs a whole lot more – stumbles onto their secret and joins in the plot, events spiral into a tragedy that rips their community apart. Ten years later, Neil is an oft-stoned history grad student studying the California gold rush. Anita has given up her high-flying tech career and is working as an event planner, just for now. Anjali, the woman who gave them both so much, is in trouble, and only gold can save her. What choice do Anita and Neil have but to pull off one last heist? Gold Diggers is a dazzling coming-of-age story that speaks to anyone who ever wondered quite how they belong, and who ever dreamed of being the very best they could be.

Lauren Attaway

I really enjoyed Gold Diggers peek into the Indian-American experience of it’s characters in a way that was full of fantasy, heists, humor and heart. It’s nice to be invited into a culture in a way that feels educational without being preachy.

Jennifer

I have seen rave critical reviews about this book and for most part, Sanjena Sathian's Gold Diggers absolutely didn't disapppoint! With beautiful magic realism prose that shines bright like liquid gold, this is a refreshing coming of age novel that digs deep into the notion of sense of cultural identity. Straddling storytellings between two continents and two generations, Sathian seamlessly integrated the messaging about identity with the cultural symbolisms of gold in this clever novel.

  

  "But when the enchanted gold hits the perfect brew of lemonade, everything changes. There comes the ached-for plonk of something thick and heavy into liquid. "
  


The prose of Gold Diggers is definitely its strongest asset. By blending Indian folklore and alchemy into the coming of age contemporary storyline, Sathian did a wonderful job keeping me engaged in the book. I really liked how these magical elements in the story enhanced the character headspace! For example the sense of purpose that Neil felt and how the scent corresponds to someone's personality traits & their aspirations. This is beautifully done within the first half of the book.

  

  "We don't just want generally auspicious or lucky gold, which we'd surely get from a store. We want something someone has invested with very specific ambitions. For the future."
  


One of the central motifs in Gold Diggers revolves around gold - both literally and symbolically. Through superb storytelling and Neil's insert story about the gold digger & gold rush, Sathian conveys the ambitions of immigrants and their American Dreams.

  

  "We were both conceptual orphans. Perhaps that is the condition of any second generation. In the space between us and the rest of adulthood lay a great expanse of the unknown."
  


Being children of immigrants, both Neil and Anita had to confront a crucial dilemma about their cultural identity: about their Indian heritage and what it takes to integrate into the American society. The tension between identifying with both cultures is one of the most prominent themes throughout this coming of age novel. And I think this was done really well in the first half of the book.

On the flipside, I do think there are noticeable drawbacks in the novel. Personally, the second half is considerably weaker. I felt that the latter half is less coherent and there are important things which are not fully resolved / explained. For example, Neil's spiraling in the latter years felt unjustified, due to the jump in the timeline between the 2 sections (I would prefer that there's at least an interlude or some form of smoother transition to bridge the 2 distinct sections). Similarly, I didn't vibe with the writing in the second half of the book as much. While the first half prose shines like gold, I felt like the golden surface is scratched off in the weaker half (instead there are more mentions of alcohol and drugs which I'm not a fan of).
 
Another downside of the novel is that while the symbolism of gold is explored well in the bigger picture storytelling, I don't feel like this premise about immigrant ambitions and cultural identity is completely fulfilled in Neil's narrative. I felt that the drugs & alcohol mentions kind of distracted the plots / Neils character arc in the second half of the novel - so I felt that there are a lot of unanswered questions on Neil's worldview (one of the crucial things that were unresolved in the novel).

Despite my concerns with regards to the second half of the novel, I nevertheless enjoyed Gold Diggers and how it conveys immigrant ambitions through symbolic meanings of gold. Will certainly recommend this book if you are looking for a diverse coming of age novel that incorporates clever social commentariesy and find beautiful prose a page-turner material: this book has a big gold mine of it!

N.B. This book contains following content warnings: alcohol, drugs, vomiting, loss of loved ones, and death

(3.5 stars out of 5)

Maxine Tsang

Tiff Brunson

Olivia

Pratik M

*A Good Morning America Buzz Pick * Soon to be a series produced by Mindy Kaling * New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice * A Vox Bookclub Pick * Longlisted for the 2021 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 Named a Best Book of April by Bustle • PopSugar • Entertainment Weekly • Good Morning America • CNN 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.

Gold Diggers A Novel

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