Reviews

Gold Diggers by Sanjena Sathian

lactomar's review against another edition

4.0

Just a really fun ride and an awesome peek into the Indian American experience in a way I had never seen. Again with the time skips, but everyone does it now i guess. Also the mystery around the police interview of the jeweler foreshadowing was unnecessary.

alreadyemily's review against another edition

4.0

Revelatory and captivating. Sad, and yet enjoyable. I had no idea it was largely set in Atlanta before starting, and that was a delightful surprise for this native.

CW: suicide, suicidal ideation.

0ri's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

nooneyouknow's review against another edition

4.0

Insightful tale of the Indian American (particularly the kids of immigrants) experience with a little more thrown in. A little uneven but the funny/sad/thoughtful parts made up for it.

s4peace's review against another edition

2.5

It was a very interesting book that caught my interest in the first half but in the later part the book just loses the plot and goes all over the place. Many plotlines weren't introduced till the very end and it didn't really create a good connection to the set up. 

It's an interesting insight into the Indian American experience and it takes a slightly derogatory tone towards immigrant Indians which is disappointing. It also caricatures Indian society quite a bit but I wrote that off to the author's own experience. I found the ending to be quite boring and felt like the story had a lot of potential to delve into genres like magical realism. It tried to be and do something but didn't execute well. 

The writing is well done and really grips you in at times even through some very absurd parts of the story. Overall a decent interesting read with a slightly disappointing and predi table ending

odowd09's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

sbn42's review against another edition

3.0

This was an interesting look into the process of integrating into American culture from and Indian perspective. There is also a lot of effort that goes into maintaining your own culture.

Gold is the main character in the story. We travel from ancient India and China where gold was consumed to prolong and enhance life, to the Middle Ages where alchemists tried to turn lead into gold, to the gold rushes in the US in the 1820-1850s, and finally where current Indian immigrants were using stolen gold to subsume the traits of the gold's owners.

A fictional story within the story about a Bombayan was fun to watch develop. A mysterious older gentleman ran into Neil while he was doing research for his high school debate and spoke of a "Hindoo" that was caught stealing gold in California during the 1850.

Otherwise, Neil was a woe-is-me teen that disappointed his parents, girlfriends, college advisors and everyone else. Not a bad read, but he was just too depressing to lead the tale.

julianananana's review against another edition

5.0

I'm usually one to read a book from a boy's perspective, and it took a little getting used to at first, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this story and the complicated, very flawed characters it puts forth. I also love a touch of magical realism, and this book brought that, plus heavy themes, existentialism and the American dream, familial pressure and failing to live up to expectations, so many fascinating things.

banned_book's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book serves as solid proof as to why passive voice kills all momentum. The content itself, while intriguing and mysterious, had no strength to propel the plot while lugging an apathetic POV along… which is a shame because any 2nd gen immigrant will tell you that Niel's plight is universally relatable. Sathian illustrates very well how unnatural it is to keep pace with foreign expectations in the US. Between long studying hours, parental pressure, moralizing trivial events, little to no autonomy, time-consuming commutes, inherent isolation that comes with living in suburbia, and existing as a minority in predominantly white spaces, many are doomed to flounder. Though, I think we could have stayed on this same wavelength from the 3rd person just fine. Niel's navel-gazy perspective does not open up adequate opportunities to speculate about what social cues or life lessons he misses due to gold-induced developmental impairments. It's tragically underwhelming.

There are also legitimate fears that come with first-time publishing. I imagine Sathian worried that she would never get another chance to expound on every subject she wanted to address in her writing, but there was too much stuffed into one book. Gold Diggers's structure would have greatly benefited from being broken up into a trilogy.

clishendavis's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5