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A review by tagoreketabkhane31
Gold Diggers by Sanjena Sathian
5.0
An #OwnVoices debut novel that is both a magical realism fiction novel while also being a reflective look at the immigrant experience for the subcontinent diaspora and the Indian community in general. Sathian joins that small group of Desi authors that is able to create a novel that is both Desi and American - one that truly encapsulates, what she even notes in her prose, is an experience that is unique that un-hyphenated Americans and Indians simply won't be able to understand.
The premise of the story is what first caught my attention - Neil (nee Neeraj) lives in the Desi enclave of Hammond Creek and is unmotivated compared to his classmates and members of his community as part of the second generation of Americans, distinct and yet the same as his parents in the first generation. As he struggles to adapt and find his motivation (besides making his parents proud, which doesn't sustain him) he stumbles across the secret that his friend and love interest Anita Dayal has kept hidden about her recent string of success - her mom dabbles in Indian alchemical magic, taking the coveted gold that every Indian family has and melting it down to drink in an elixir, mixed in with lemonade; the concoction allows for the drinker to take on the success, ambition and drive of whomever the gold had originally belonged to or who had been made for.
The story follows from their early and formative teenage years, and resumes when Neil is a graduate student, struggling to focus on his thesis and finding the motivation to deal with his litany of issues - and is reunited with Anita as she calls on him to help him with one monumental task to save her mom.
One of my favorite aspects of the book is how much Sathian unpacks and dismantles the myth of the model minority for the Indian American community - while also showcasing how quickly the first and second generation of immigrants assimilated into the American dream as they made it their way, all the while ignoring or otherizing those that are not able to compete or stay in the ideals of the community.
It's a complex narrative and novel that Sathian is able to execute in a flawless way - because in part, her characters are flawed. Neil and Anita are real people who represent a broad spectrum of the Desi experience in America, and I appreciated that there was a true diversity in the Indian representation that she brought into the novel, a cross section of religions, states and classes for the Indian Americans that she depicted in her novel.
Whether you're looking for a great literary fiction read, something with magical realism or another book about Desi Americans or written by an AAPI author; whatever your motivation might be, I highly recommend Gold Diggers as something to check out and savor.
The premise of the story is what first caught my attention - Neil (nee Neeraj) lives in the Desi enclave of Hammond Creek and is unmotivated compared to his classmates and members of his community as part of the second generation of Americans, distinct and yet the same as his parents in the first generation. As he struggles to adapt and find his motivation (besides making his parents proud, which doesn't sustain him) he stumbles across the secret that his friend and love interest Anita Dayal has kept hidden about her recent string of success - her mom dabbles in Indian alchemical magic, taking the coveted gold that every Indian family has and melting it down to drink in an elixir, mixed in with lemonade; the concoction allows for the drinker to take on the success, ambition and drive of whomever the gold had originally belonged to or who had been made for.
The story follows from their early and formative teenage years, and resumes when Neil is a graduate student, struggling to focus on his thesis and finding the motivation to deal with his litany of issues - and is reunited with Anita as she calls on him to help him with one monumental task to save her mom.
One of my favorite aspects of the book is how much Sathian unpacks and dismantles the myth of the model minority for the Indian American community - while also showcasing how quickly the first and second generation of immigrants assimilated into the American dream as they made it their way, all the while ignoring or otherizing those that are not able to compete or stay in the ideals of the community.
It's a complex narrative and novel that Sathian is able to execute in a flawless way - because in part, her characters are flawed. Neil and Anita are real people who represent a broad spectrum of the Desi experience in America, and I appreciated that there was a true diversity in the Indian representation that she brought into the novel, a cross section of religions, states and classes for the Indian Americans that she depicted in her novel.
Whether you're looking for a great literary fiction read, something with magical realism or another book about Desi Americans or written by an AAPI author; whatever your motivation might be, I highly recommend Gold Diggers as something to check out and savor.