The Golden House

A man of extreme wealth immigrates from Mumbai to Manhattan along with his three adult sons. They change their identities and keep the reason for leaving their previous home a mystery though they don't live like recluses, just the opposite, they embrace their new homeland with excess and extravagance.
The Golden House is about this family and the unraveling of their mystery as told by a neighbour, a film maker, who takes an interest in them because he hopes their story will provide the plot for a movie he wants to make.
Rushdie's characters are larger than life, and I mean down right over the top. Indeed, they are no ordinary people in this novel, every one is eccentric, brilliant, extremely talented, very well dressed and beautiful beyond description though Rushdie does his best to describe all the above lavishly and extensively.
In fact he spends so much time on sumptuous imagery, on references to Greek mythology and on quotes that might make sense if I knew author of the quote and the context in which it was being used, I very soon became bored and early on found my self skimming pages to find something that advanced the plot.
The Golden House is an "insiders" book. If the reader knows the locales, events, jargon, trends, author of quotes, context of quotes, the heroes and heroines of Greek mythology and their significance then I imagine you're supposed to feel included, with it, up to date, part of the club, and oh so contemporary. If you don't you're a boob, a rube, a member of the cultural lumpenproletariat and don't deserve to know what's going in his book.

Rushdie obviously is an excellent, clever, educated, intelligent, sophisticated member of the upper crust of society and he sets out to prove that in every paragraph of this book.
The writing is so rich, so decadent I felt the same way I did when during the Holidays I overindulged in Christmas cake, shortbread and mince tarts - well fed, yet ironically, unsatisfied.
Keeping with my New Year's resolution of not enduring to the end books I'm not enjoying, I abandoned The Golden House about a quarter way through.

When the extremely wealthy and mysterious Nero Golden and his three sons move to New York with new and telling names that they themselves have chosen from a country and a city that would not be named throughout most of the novel, The Golden House, it sets off a great deal of curiosity, rumour, and innuendo among their neighbours. Among the curious is Rene, son of two academics, a budding filmmaker and narrator of the story. After entering the inner circle of the Golden household, he is is determined to discover all their secrets so that he can make a documentary or, perhaps even better, a mockumentary about them.

The Golden House by Salman Rushdie is chockfull of wordplay and references to mythology, literature, film and pop culture, most enjoyably (at least if you are politically liberal) the story of a man born with green hair, a villain who calls himself the joker, who will rise to become president. There were times when I found all of these allusions a bit tiring, even smug – I started counting the number of foreign films he could manage to mention on a single page. Overall, though, I quite enjoyed this book. It is a witty, intelligent, and insightful character study about the absurdity of the times we live in, a world where a man born into immense wealth can reinvent himself from real estate developer with multiple bankruptcies, to reality star, to populist president of the United States of America.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

In an established neighborhood in New York City, a new family moves into a fabulous mansion. They are the Goldens who are immigrants from abroad, maybe India, maybe the Middle East, the residents are not quite sure. The father, Nero, is an obviously successful and powerful man even if his story is shrouded in mystery. He has moved here with his three sons. Petya is a brilliant man who is crippled by his insecurities and is rarely seen outside the house. Apu is an artist and quickly makes his mark in artistic circles, knowing and loving everyone and anyone. D is the youngest son, a half-brother to Petya and Apu. He is racked by doubts about his identity and what course his life should take.

Rene is a resident of the neighborhood. He is a young would-be filmmaker who has grown up there. He is fascinated by the Golden family and decides to make a movie about them. When his own parents are killed in an accident, he is invited into the Golden house and soon learns many of their secrets. When Nero meets and marries an enigmatic Russian immigrant, Vasilia, Rene is right there and sees the same things about her that worry the sons.

As the years go by, more secrets and tragedies unfold, not only for the family but in the country. Those who live in this Greenwich Village neighborhood are typically liberal and they bemoan the direction the country is taking after the administration of President Obama. Some are blase about the election; others see the conservative candidate as a madman who has evil intentions. The Golden family also starts to unwind as ill events happen to them and their innate inclinations lead them on to tragedy.

Salman Rushdie is one of today's most prominent novelists and any new novel by him is a joy. This parable documents the path America is taking as seen through the eyes of the New York intelligentsia. There are references to Greek mythology and topics such as sexual identity, the autistic spectrum, the film industry, the tragedy of wealth and the ability to reinvent oneself are explored. Some have called this novel a modern Bonfire Of The Vanities and it was an the store Best Book of September 2017. This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.

I was truly astounded to discover that this was Rushdie. If you know Rushdie, then you are familiar with his often used style of magic realism - this however, reads more like realism with epic echoes of Greek tragedy. To be sure, we are still asked to stretch our imaginations quite far, as there is quite a lot of grandiosity and hyperbole and our characters repeatedly find themselves in far-fetched situations. But this is not to say that works against the book. If anything it pulls us in further.

Rushdie's vivid response to last year's election and the stunts that followed is visceral and raw, garish and vulgar. There were times when I could not pick my jaw up off of the floor. All of the characters are exceptionally colorful and the inspiration he draws from the seeming collapse of our modern civilization is one of the best responses I've seen yet.

He has remarkably contemporized his voice in a way that is almost unrecognizable but just as compelling when lined up next to his other work. I highly recommend this book.

The Golden House by Salman Rushdie is a novel about a powerful tycoon who immigrates to the US. This is the thirteenth novel from Mr. Rushdie’s arsenal of tales, it is the first one I read but am looking forward to filling the backlog.

Nero Golden immigrated to the US under secretive circumstances with his adult children who all assumed Roman names Petronius, or Petya, Lucius Apuleius, or Apu and Dionysius, or D. The family lives in downtown Manhattan and became part of New York City’s social circle.

René, a neighbor and confidant of the Golden family is the narrator of this book. An aspiring filmmaker, René thinks that chronicling the Goldens would be an excellent subject for his first movie.

The first thing I noticed about The Golden House by Salman Rushdie is its use of pop-culture to tell an all new American story. Luckily we live in an age where it’s easy to check a refrence to get the gist of what the author meant to convey. Frankly I didn’t need to google a reference too often, but occasionally I did.
I don’t know if that’s good or bad.

As a movie lover, I did get many of the references but I took the time to view the Criterion Collection which I recommend anyway.

Mr. Rushdie uses the story of immigrants, the contemptuous election of the 45th President, and our love of pop-culture to write social commentary to today’s society and media. The author doesn’t shy away from allowing the reader to interpret what he really thinks.

This is one of the first books I enjoyed told through a first person, stream of consciousness narrative. The book is very dense, but enjoyable even though it takes time to read and appreciate.

Salman Rushdie's setting for The Golden House is somewhat unexpected; a quiet garden bounded by mansions in the toniest part of Manhattan. Rene, the son of immigrant professors living on the Garden, is fascinated by his mysterious neighbours, the Goldens. Nero Golden, a mysterious patriarch from another country, lives there with his sons: autistic Petya, artistic Apu and gender-confused D. As Rene gets to know the Goldens he becomes obsessed with making a film about their story, a film hampered by the fact that he does not yet know where this story leads.

The fragile tensions in the Golden house approach breaking point when Vasilisa, a Russian chancer, sweeps Nero off his feet and inveigles herself into the house as his mistress. The sons' worst fears about Vasilisa are confirmed, but they are unable to stop her. Things move from bad to worse, and the Golden house becomes the scene of an unfolding grand family tragedy.

With an outsider's view of tragedy among the ultra-rich, this book reminded me of The Great Gatsby, a novel which Rushdie alludes to regularly here. There are a host of other allusions here, notably comparing the 2016 Presidential election to a cartoon stoush between The Joker and Bat-Girl. Rushdie has some trenchant things to say about what that election means.

I initially thought that an upper Manhattan setting was not what I expected from Rushdie, but this scenario gives him the opportunity to make some observations about life in exile, even in the midst of comfort, that are clearly informed by his own experience.

This was my first exposure to Salman Rushdie writing, and I can truly say it will be my last. I was thrilled to win this book in a Goodreads book giveaway, and eagerly anticipated enjoying a novel by a well-known author. I was greatly disappointed to find it to be so verbose and tangential that I had to force myself to finish it out of a sense of duty to the publisher who provided copies in search of reviews.

Rushdie is certainly adept at political satire and metaphor, but I found the actual storyline of the novel to be sorely lacking. The first third of the book is incredibly boring, continually alluding to events that will be disclosed in the future, apparently designed to keep the reader intrigued. Be assured, (in my opinion) it is not worth the effort.

The general outline of the novel has been provided by numerous reviewers, as well as the publisher, so I will not bother to repeat that here. Just know that it is an obvious attempt to draw parallels with our current socio-political climate from a decidedly liberal perspective and let the reader beware!

I've read most everything Rushdie has written. This is one of the most creative. From the book title to the main character's
name, Nero Golden, it's hard not to recognize who he is writing about. After having a $10mm reward placed on Rushdie's life
when writing about the Arab experience in Iran or was it Iraq, I would suspect Rushdie wasn't taking any chances of having a
second experience of death threats. Perhaps, this time from the main U.S. character in the book... The names have been changed for
his own protection. Rushdie seems to have had lots of fun showing us the current WH characters . And, of course. Nero watching
as Rome burned. We hope someone will prevent Nero Golden from doing that here.

OK. So, Salman Rushdie wrote a good novel (Midnight's Children). Since then, well, not up to the right but down to the right. I've tried to figure him out. So here's what I see:

This is a guy with talent. Still there, I'm guessing. Then he writes Satanic Verses. OK. Not great. But he's young. Then the fatwah. Now there's nothing. Salman has no idea what freedom and free speech is: they're yours and no one can take them from you: ever. Of course, death is a possibility when you write ANYTHING! However, Mr. Rushdie -- who does not believe in any god -- thinks that MAN can and should protect his (god given rights) to free speech and "art" -- now that is really funny -- so, he writes a children's book that no child would read (or has ever read). Why?

Now, you read "Joseph Anton" and you find out that Mr. Rushdie is a serf: a product of his Indian heritage and his British citizenship. We get it. 95% of the world likes serfdom and being taken care of. We -- Americans -- don't. Rushdie's following efforts are nothing but productions designed to "capitalize" on his "reputation" as the poor man who could not be free (even though he was always so): in other words, make him money. I mean, really, does anyone think his writing has improved?

So now, Rushdie (who can't sustain a relationship with any woman or country) writes a book about America and what a bad country and people Americans are. Hilarious! Not the book, but his presumption.

It is doubtful Mr. Rushdie will ever have written more than one good novel and only his friends even remember that one.

If you read fiction for the plot, this book might not be your cup of tea. It is as if a very bright man emptied his head of every subject matter that came to light. Whether it be political commentary, art, sexual mores, etc.

It appears to be a book about identity but blurs the edges of what is fiction.

And the ending, for me, was a discordant note in the symphony he was attempting to orchestrate,

Nero Golden and his family are not your usual neighborhood residents they are much more interesting. Their language is that of the highly educated. Their actions self-centered and thug like. The political race for United State President is relevant and social commentary is appropriate as one reflects on recent American history. The writing is excellent and the narration consistent. The plot jumps around and you need a list to keep track of all the characters. However, Rushdie’s ability to blur the lines will have readers wondering what fiction is and what are facts, how much is autobiographical, and how much it taken from headline news.

I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway. Although encouraged, I was under no obligation to write a review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Pretentious and overwritten and not a believable or interesting character in sight. Needed an editor to cut about four-fifths of the name dropping and the thick soup of cultural references that scream "The author is erudite and cosmopolitan" (in case you didn't know that Salman Rushdie is erudite and cosmopolitan). I hadn't read Rushdie before, and this wasn't inspiring. I liked his rendition of the Australian guy's accent. I had a smidgen of sympathy for Petya. The narrator was completely flat, one-dimensional and not credible, the plot absurd. (I won't add spoilers by explaining HOW absurd, but several of the plot twists - Reya's dad, mashed in with a recent news item? To what purpose? The pet lynx? - right. - were just unnecessary.) Occasional bits of humor. Done with Rushdie.

The Golden House by Salman Rushdie is a free NetGalley ebook that I read in mid-October.

Ooh, Salman Rushdie - in this alternate reality that reflects a lot of present-day social commentary and pop culture, the 44th president of the United States, Nero Golden, brings his dysfunctional, opulent upper-class, somewhat apathetic, entitled, thankless, partying, and supposedly Muslim family into the White House. It's a quite fanciful, Great Expectations-esque, yet scattered story that's partially narrated from the sidelines by the Golden's assistant, Rene, and likens this world of the book to senatorial Rome.

When the opening sentence in a book takes up almost half a page, my usual reaction is, “How pretentious.” When I encountered such a sentence in The Golden House, I thought, “What a beautiful opening.”
My admiration did not diminish as I avidly followed the story of The Golden Boys and their enigmatic father as narrated by their neighbor, aspiring young filmmaker Rene, who hopes to turn the lives of the Goldens into a film but through circumstances finds himself playing a crucial role. This is a highly complex novel, but through Rushdie’s genius it is very accessible, and the reader does not have to “work hard” to become totally immersed and thoroughly enjoy it.
The setting is a rich brocade of history and place. The Macdougal-Sullivan Gardens District of New York is a real neighborhood, and the history provided is genuine. The book opens as Barak Obama takes office, which seems a bit too recent to be called “history”, but few Americans probably remember much about the terrorist attacks on Mumbai in November, 2008, and Rushdie provides a forceful picture for us. Even ancient history becomes relevant, since Golden not only takes a Roman name for himself (Nero Julius) but also saddles his sons with classical names, against which they rebel. Petronius becomes Petya (which we are told suggested Dostoyevsky and Chekhov); Lucius Apuleius insists on being called Apu; and Dionysius simply becomes D.
The quantity of allusions to literature, both ancient and modern, and movies could be intimidating, but Rushdie does a masterful job of giving the reader enough context to understand the reference without doing a “data dump”.
Rene envisions the scenes of his movie as he tells his story and uses appropriate cinematic terms. This is a very nice technique that helped make them especially vivid.
So let’s talk about the story. After all, that is why we read novels. A great deal of the first part of the book is devoted to background and letting the reader get to know the very unusual characters, but my interest never flagged, and I just became more immersed and more interested in what would eventually happen. The suspense kept building, and then Rushdie threw me for a loop with some surprises and a very satisfactory ending. The careful attention to the other aspects of the writing craft did not come at the expense of the plot.
The Golden House is prefaced by an epigram from filmmaker Francois Truffaut, “La vie a beaucoup plus d’imagination que nous” (Life has more imagination than we do.) . Maybe not, but in The Golden House Salman Rushdie does a good job of challenging that observation.
NOTE: My thanks to Net Galley for an advance reader copy of this book for my enjoyment and review.

There’s whimsy and wit throughout Salman Rushdie’s novel titled, The Golden House. Set from about 2009 to the present, the protagonist Nero Golden is a fascinating international wealthy character, and he, his wife, his three sons move to an exclusive enclave in New York City in grand style. Rushdie riffs on contemporary life on one page and explores the history of cinema on the next page. He makes the Goldens mysterious and then explains everything through their backstory. Along the way, the prose is beautiful, the humor entertaining, and the entertainment delightful.

Rating: Four-star (I like it)

I’ve always wanted to read a Rushdie novel, and I'm not sure that his writing style is for me. I know that he is a highly acclaimed writer and he is very educated. I’m sure the lacking is all mine. I think he just overindulges a little too much in his narrative. Some of the time I found myself wondering what I was reading and then I’d read a few lines that just kinda knocked my socks off. Ever been to a party and there is this one person who is super super smart and they suddenly just start ranting? Many times it felt a little like this to me.

Interesting things happen to interesting characters in this novel. The narrator turns out to be a writer (movie scripts) of sorts, which annoyed me. Rushdie has a pedantic streak, and there are chunks of narrative that are difficult to get through. Sometimes the writing speaks more from Rushdie's voice, than the character's voice.

The novel opens with Obama's inauguration and closes with Trump's election. Enjoyable to read a novel in contemporary times.

To label the Golden family as disfunctional would give them too much credit. I’ve tried to read previous Rushdie books but couldn’t finish them, this one I labored through. The plot is supposedly about an immigrant family calling themselves Golden for this incarnation of their existence. The patriarch, Nero, and his three floundering sons may or may not be a criminal. He’s definitely rich or appears to be.

Rushdie plays with the truth and with the reader throughout the book mixing legends within mythologies of many traditions from many countries. The narrator Rene, who is a second generation immigrant himself is portrayed as Nick Caraway To Nero’s Gatsby. Their properties even abut one another with a park joining them to one another. Rene as a film director is a storyteller himself but also irresistibly inserts himself into the Golden’s myth. There’s a subplot with illusions to Trump as the green red and white Joker. Heartbreak a bounds with so many twists that I had to switch off any compassion I felt in favor of keeping my sanity.

It felt like Rushdie was using this book to showcase how brilliant and knowledgeable he is. Worse, I felt toyed with to the point that any honest emotion was disingenuous, pointless. Again I was reminded of Fitzgerald’s Caraway shaking his head at how careless Daisy and Tom, or in this case, the Golden’s were. Did Rushdie mean for his readers to be amused at murder and mayhem and theft on such a grand scale? I suppose so. I doubt I’ll force myself through any more of his books.

Rushdie again shows his mastery in superimposing ancient worlds , literatures and arts onto our own pedestrian (and wired) time, ... Because he can!. Their connectedness, and even the void when they're not , give us pause., there is power here.
He uses cinema history this time, the (customary) Bombay historical place and cultures , even superheroes for an impressive incisive take on our tortured and confused moment here in Trump NYC.

This would all sound TOO academic, TOO self indulgent.... But it's not. Rushdie is a keen observer of peoples and manners and events happening right now, so he makes us think and feel deeply, and laugh out loud too. This book again shows mr rushdie's big, deep brain, mastery of language, and his deep soul, and love of mankind can be very very entertaining.

I've never liked stream of consciousness, which is what this novel seems to be. I found it hard to read and unimpressive. There are two saving graces, however; First, in the midst of nothingness, Rushdie would sometimes make a poignant remark and, second, the novel came together nicely at the end. P.S. Is anyone else tired of the "lifting of the veil" that I've read in many novels as of late? Just when you think you're satisfied, a circus performer comes along and backflips across the lovely ending.

The publisher writes that this book is the first fictional book of the Trump administration seemingly taking it on. The book starts with the introduction of Nero Golden and his three sons coming to America at the beginning of the 44th Presidents term, as described when ISIS was an Egyptian Goddess.
Rushdie spends the first half of the book describing the Golden's, Nero, his three sons and how they came to New York. The eve of Obama winning his first term and the feelings expressed by the narrator are the feelings many young people can relate to. While my look was a little more optimistic the hope was there for change. We did get change and now are in a place of uncertainty with Orange 45.
Through the book we are given almost too much information about each character. It leads to a descriptive narrative about a influential family who are more or less outsiders. While I can appreciate the writing and the description of the characters I was not crazy about the book and felt many parts dragged on and I found myself pushing myself to continue. I must finish was the mantra instead of I want more. I also became tired of the "movie" writing. "Here we have" "Now we can introduce" etc and stage directions. I felt like it read not like a film but as a choppy novel.

I decided to give an honest review based off of an ARC I received.

“The Return of the Rushdie

I wrote it. I proofed it and poof. Gone as gone can be. I liked that review too. It is not near any surface – it landed deep in a cyber cemetery hidden by the last shot of Cassini falling and the moon revealing the sun almost a month ago. I am beyond bereft. My stomach roils.

Because I never takes notes when I read novels – “The Golden House” was a first. Instead of trying to rewrite my deceased parrot of a review I will simply share the notes I made and hope it inspires you to read this book:

“Bippity bopping, name dropping, tangential direction and hinting at pointless at times (a clever device), over stuffed, polymathic. Quotes by everyone and the personal conceit of a knighted, beknighted, fatwaed, word wizard worthy of Hogwarts.

Layers and layers of images, places, events locales and flights of fantastic meanderings that would not fall apart whether shaken or stirred. So well constructed I smiled and laughed and fell into this Return of the Rushdie – almost sensing’ midnight’s children exhaling the moor’s last sigh’.

I loved it. Just look at the mess of a commentary it inspired in me. My hair is standing on end. The feeling was like a sudden rain with enormous drops. If you read it let me hear your thoughts.

Thank you Sir Salman.

An fabulously intelligent and mysterious novel about identity set against the backdrop of contemporary American politics and culture.
SUMMARY
Barack Obama has just been inaugurated the first time when a septuagenarian foreign billionaire and his three adult sons take up residence in New York’s Greenwich Village. Nero Julius Golden arrives at his new home in a Daimler limousine, with his eldest son Petya, 44, who is agoraphobic and an alcoholic; Apu who is 41 and a romantic and flamboyant artist, and D who at 22 is the baby of the family and harbors a deeply held secret. But, that is only one of many secrets that this family holds. The biggest secret is why they have come to the United States, and changed their identities. While still in the limousine Nero tells his son to never tell anyone where they came from.

Upon the Golden’s arrival at their new home, the Murray mansion, the grandest of all the homes in the Macdougal-Sullivan Gardens Historic District, we soon are introduced to the Golden’s neighbor, and our narrator René. René is an ambitious young filmmaker full of energy and ambition and enamored with the Golden’s mystique. He ingratiates himself with the family in order to learn as much as he can, with the hope of finding out what brought them here and developing a movie about them. He not only tells the story but soon plays a part of the story, he inevitably become embroiled in the family’s quarrels, romances, infidelities and their secrets.
REVIEW
THE GOLDEN HOUSE is set against the backdrop of current American culture and politics. As the family assimilates to life in the US, events begin unfolding triggering disaster for the Golden family. The mystery of who this family were, where they immigrated from, and why, is a predominant part of the story.

The character development for THE GOLDEN HOUSE was masterful. Nero and each of his sons image, personality, interests, strengths and weaknesses leap off the pages of this book. It's easy to become enthralled with each of their unique and perhaps, peculiar lives. And even René, the knowledgable neighbor, and creative and passionate narrator proves to be a most endearing character. His integration with the family proves to be more than even he expected.

The story of the of Golden family is intense, mysterious and complex. A variety of topics are included in this 368 page book: current politics, fidelity, sexual identity, autism, art culture, migration, honesty, and sins of the father. The complexity of the book is derived from René’s innumerable historical, literary, and film references, many of which I was not familiar with. While this was somewhat challenging, it did not diminish the enjoyment of THE GOLDEN HOUSE. Another imaginative part of the book was René’s telling of portions of the story as a scripted scene of how he would film it for his movie. Loved it! One of my favorite parts of the book was SALMAN RUSHDIE’s adroit humor when describing the 2016 presidential election, in particularly the ingenious symbolic use of a certain comic book villain as the crass candidate in the election. Not that there was ever any doubt that RUSHIE admirable stood with Her.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

After several days off from reading because of work, I finally finished "The Golden House". It's about a family (the Goldens - maybe) and told from the POV of their neighbor who became more involved in their lives than he expected. The story itself was interesting, but the writing went all over the place sometimes, which made it a bit long. I'd still recommend it.

Salman Rushdie did it again. His latest book "The Golden House" is a modern day tale of what success in a contemporary world is and what is the price for it. This story is told from a perspective of Rene, a young man living in the home with his parents. He is an artist and keen observer of his neighborhood and people who live around. Golden is the family that moves in. It is unusual family by all means. An elderly father with his three grown sons. Wife is missing. And they all live together. Their names are unusual. The patriarch is named Nero Golden, like a ruthless Roman emperor and all three of his sons assume Roman names as well that to some extent match their characters.

As times goes by we learn their secrets and complex relationship between father and his sons. The money and success of old man seems to put a wedge between the siblings. There is an open dislike between all of them. As women start entering their world, the relationships become even more complex until tragedy of great proportions hits them.

Rushdie's storytelling kept me mesmerized from start to finish. He is a writer of immense talent. This book is a real work of contemporary literature that just make reader begging for more.

Donald Trump will hate this book. Not that I think he'll read it, but he will hear about it. (Rushdie has had a fatwa issued against him; I doubt he's particularly bothered by Trump yelling about lawsuits he'll never make.) The Golden House is far greater than a fictionalized view of the House of Trump. Rushdie is not heavy-handed, he doesn't make this a thinly veiled portrait of an easy target, but creates Trump-flavored touchstones in an attempt to do much more than simply criticize or satirize a single figure or family. Rather, peppered as it is with popular culture touchstones, it becomes a portrait of an age in American life, and not a pretty one.

The Golden family is fantastically wealthy (almost certainly from criminal enterprise), mysterious, dishonest, filled with secrets, and ultimately doomed. They are viewed primarily by a family friend, who eventually becomes entangled in their scheming, a young man named Rene who is a filmmaker. And many of the scenes are described by Rene's cinematic plan for a film about the Goldens. Rene is both outside the family madness, and tangled in it. He's a reasonably reliable narrator in a nest of unreliable characters.

Much of the story's emphasis on duality can be understood via the Russian fairytale that is linked to Nero Golden's young wife, Vasilisa. Early on she is identified as Vasilisa the Fair, a character who is first under the thrall of the witch Baba Yaga, and later thwarts her and ultimately becomes the wife of the Tsar. Rushdie also identifies her with Baba Yaga herself, suggesting a dual identity, just as he does for Nero Golden by making him a Trump-like character even as he describes Trump (never by name) as the DC villain, The Joker, a horrific, vulgar, hateful, larger-than-life figure who has entered the political arena. There is, in fact, a great deal of duality in this book, the most obvious of which is the story of D (Dionysus) Golden, who is suffering from gender dysphoria, and trying to decide if he should transition into a woman.

There's far too much about this novel to unpack in a review. It's dense and beautifully written (This is my first experience with Rushdie's fiction and I was blown away by the beauty of his prose.), and requires attention and thought. If you're not willing to give him that much of your reading self, then avoid it at all costs because it will probably frustrate you. But if you are, I really feel there is so much to love about this book, so much to take to heart. If nothing else, it does show us the face of our United States in the 21st century.

Uneven. Often brilliant prose and ingenious postmodern narrative techniques. Sometimes long, tedious exposition and back-story.

No satisfying overall structure -- it's just kind of all over the place; feels like a first draft by a brilliant writer, which it may be.

Also, Rushdie doesn't write characters well. Only Nero's sexy, sensible, monstrous wife Vasilisa stands out vividly, and even she is myth-based caricature.

The story is intriguing, but in listening to the audio version, I am having trouble getting by the atrocious accents used by the narrator when he is voicing the comments of René’s parents. He makes his Belgian father sound like an East Indian, and his mother’s accent keeps changing, going from accented to New York accent. He would have been far better off making them accentless

Marvelous writing with interesting characters, and surprisingly easy to read.

But the plot is very episodic -- small pieces of a large puzzle that never makes a coherent picture. At least for me.

One caution: it's difficult to read in small bits -- I needed to carve out some serious time after trying to read a few pages at a time.

Robert C. Ross
September 2017

Please Note: I received an advance reader's copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This did not influence the opinions of my review in any way.

The tale of the Golden family is a saga on par with no less than the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. With the larger than life character of Nero Golden, you see a man who is trying to act, after years of criminal activity, like a legitimate, wealthy businessman. He is surrounded by his three grown sons (who each have crosses to bear, despite their privileges) and a scheming trophy wife, yet he is alone in his adopted country of America.

This novel not only chronicles the downfall of a powerful man, but also of the United States, as both transform from the envy of the world into caricatures of crass reality-television based drama and politics.

What I Liked:
Narrative device:
The narrator, René, acts (mostly) as a fly on the wall, witnessing the story as though he is writing a movie script of the Goldens. Author Salman Rushdie uses this device to show what voice overs might occur in various scenes, allowing the reader to hear the inner dialogue of the characters.

René is also drawn into the family's story by the seductive nature of wealth and power. He is symbolic of all of us who swear we will never watch The Kardashians or The Bachelor, yet are curious of the spectacle. We watch one episode and we are hooked! Like anyone, René can't stop watching the ensuing drama and leaps into the fray. His guilt is the collective guilt of a population of Americans who say they want civility and cooperation, but engage in the opposite behavior when no one is looking.

New York State of Mind:
Reading this book reminds me of a Woody Allen movie. With his advanced education and professor parents, René represents the elite that the far right rally against. All of the characters constantly analyze themselves and each other. The home of the Goldens and other families surround The Garden. This idealized patch of land is where wealthy neighbors let their young children play, released from the concerns of the outer world. Much like reality television, this close proximity also sets up each resident's life to be viewed for the consumption and entertainment of their neighbors. There are many references to Hitchcock's Rear Window, which now seems like an omen warning of the easy voyeurism our society now indulges in.

Characters:
Nero's sons are each very conflicted. The oldest, Petya, struggles with high-functioning Autism. While some of Petya's habits are stereotypical, the author does show the social anxiety of people on the autism spectrum, and the ways these individuals can harness these traits to find success.

Apu seems to be the most well-adjusted, yet he is plagued by the ghosts of the people his father trod upon to reach the top. He is an artist who takes what he wants (like his father), even when it hurts Petya. His guilt over his privilege causes him to behave recklessly, which leads him to his ruin.

D (short for Dionysus), is trying to come to grips with his/her gender identity. Born male, she identifies as a woman, but is terrified of the surgery that would align her body with her identity. I found this one of the most fascinating aspects of the novel. The author very succinctly explains the bewilderment that many older Americans feel over Identity. Younger people easily accept ideas such as gender fluidity, and multiple kinds of pronouns. But many well-meaning people (who want to be supportive) have a hard time understanding the difference between what is a choice, and what is inborn in a person. D's character allows the author to explore these issues without judging the characters on their confusion.

Social Commentary:
Without naming names, Rushdie takes jabs at the recent presidential elections. He uses the analogy of Bat Woman and the Joker to represent Hillary and The Donald. The surreal feeling of the election season mirrors the dark turn America has taken during the Obama years. Racist, sexist, and misogynistic opinions that would have been unacceptable to express just a few years ago, are proudly yelled from the rooftops. As mass shootings become more common, solutions to gun violence, such as keeping firearms from mentally disturbed people, are blocked just because one side doesn't want the other to score a victory.

What I Was Mixed About:
Female Characters:
Most of the women in this book are deeply flawed. They are portrayed as manipulative, scheming people who use men to further their own interests. Most of the women who become involved with the main male characters shy away from commitment, and want nothing to do with bearing children. Once they do become close to men, they immediately try to emasculate them by constant criticism and absurd power plays. Aren't there any good women in this world? Perhaps this was the mindset that men unconsciously attached to Hillary? Could this be why she wasn't elected?

A sweeping tale of the Golden family leaving an unnamed country coming to settle in the Greenwich village section of NYC. Their backstory is quite interesting and it unfolds in brilliant prose over 400 pages. The novel starts with a narrator in the first person plural, and just as I was wondering if this would continue throughout the novel, in chapter four, Rushdie pulls the curtain and reveals the true narrator that carries the reader through this large novel. "I’ve been hiding behind the first person plural, and may do so again, but I’m getting around to introducing myself. I am." After a paragraph of intentions, then simply, "Call me René." René is a resident of the gardens that this mysterious Golden family has now inhabited. He is an aspiring filmmaker and immediately thinks of the Goldens as interesting subjects to center his film around.

René is drawn to them for what they don't reveal historically as much as their current lives and interests. They arrive in NYC on the day of Obama's first inauguration. So, Rushdie places the scope of the novel from then right through the recent election cycle of 2016. He skewers America for its' politics referring to one candidate as the Joker, "The origins of the Joker were disputed, the man himself seemed to enjoy allowing contradictory versions to fight for air space, but on one fact everyone, passionate supporters and bitter antagonists, was agreed: he was utterly and certifiably insane."

In a novel this epic one must pay close attention and the reward for doing so is satisfying because Rushdie's use of language is superb. He has many allusions to movies, music, books, and personalities, some contemporary others more obscure that clearly demonstrate his intellect or research skills, probably both. He offers his takes on culture, politics, gender, identity, family, love and more. The story of this Golden family gets flushed out through the examination of the sons. Petya, the oldest agoraphobic Asperger suffering video game creator. Apu, the second son, the playboy free-spirited artist and third son D, short for Dionysius, who is in a struggle to find himself and really live as his true self. One funny line amidst a more serious discussion of gender and freedom to choose, when asked how he could afford (theoretically) a million dollar apartment,

"'Oh, I’m now a transbillionaire' came the reply. 'I identify as rich and so consequently I am.'"

This look at D typifies the beautiful writing contained in these pages, "When I think about D at this critical juncture I am reminded of Theodor W. Adorno: “The highest form of morality is not to feel at home in your own home.” Yes, to be uncomfortable with comfort, uneasy about the easy, to question the assumptions of what is usually, and happily, taken for granted, to make of oneself a challenge to what for most people is the space in which they feel free from challenges; yes!"Later we get a fourth son,(won't spoil) and new wife. René has wormed his way into the Golden family and gets the sons to open up about their lives.And eventually Nero Golden, the father fills in the historical blanks.

Some readers may find this novel challenging for its references by the dozens, for its genre bending, is it mystery, tragedy, contemporary or historical? It's all of the above and the payoff is you'll have read a great novel and that has to make one wholly satisfied. So take the challenge and enjoy! Thanks to Random House and Netgalley for providing an advanced ebook ahead of publication which is Sept. 5, 2017.

Call him Rene, the young "auteur" narrator of Salman Rushdie's latest novel, "The Golden House".  Set in modern-day, Rene plots and plans his Big Film Project on Nero Golden and his three sons who arrive in the Gardens neighborhood of NYC in early 2009. Who are these men and from where did they come, and why? The story is about metamorphoses/transition/change, and asks the ancient question "Is it possible to be both good and evil?"  Rene describing the intent for his project surely echoes Rushdie's intent for the novel:

"With the boundless egotism of youth I had begun to imagine a mighty film, or a Dekalog-style sequence of films, dealing with migration, transformation, fear, danger, rationalization, romanticism, sexual change, the city, cowardice, and courage; nothing less than a panoramic portrait of my times."

In the end we find all these boxes have indeed been checked, and then some.

First criticism: there is an over-abundance of foreshadowing throughout the novel; "when the truth finally came out" or "maybe I could have prevented what happened later" which I found distracting and frustrating. My reaction being - just tell it! Don't tell us that you are going to tell it. But then in the last 60 pages or so, he reveals all the "whys" and frankly it was a fairly boring, anti-climactic, and overly-detailed story with too many new characters to keep straight.

Second criticism: It is common knowledge that Rushdie is a liberal and since the novel takes place in recent and current "history" it can be expected that the Trump election be discussed. Fair enough! What was disappointing was that Rushdie, through Rene, fell into the common and intellectually lazy position of tossing the millions of Americans who did not support Hillary into a big generalized bucket deeming them all morally bankrupt idiots. On that topic there is a lot of eschatological hyperbole; but just when I'm about to throw the book across the room - Rushdie calls himself out on it.

Third criticism: Early in the novel Rushdie makes reference to "the Immaculate Conception of Christ." This is such a HUGELY blatant error (the Immaculate Conception refers to Mary) that I was shocked, 1) that Rushdie made it, and 2) that no editor or fact-checker found it. Frankly, it made me suspect everything I was reading and I was tempted to stop. You can't make fun of people for misspelling Gandhi's name after making a mistake like that. Maybe it will have been corrected by the September release date.

Still, the novel held my interest and I'm glad I read it. 3.5 stars.

I had never read a Salman Rushdie book before, but I had heard of him and what a good writer he was. So. . . I was pretty excited when I requested and received this book.

That excitement lasted until I started reading it. It was just so tedious. And, yawn. . . boring.

There were numerous times when the narrator of this story would say the same things over and over again. Using different words, of course. I would be reading thinking surely there's been enough talk describing something with the Golden family and then several pages later it would be said again, paragraphs of content with different wording.

The narrator kept promising that "the story" will be coming. Well, after 60% into this story, I said "wow, I don't have to read all of this". I rarely like to abandon books because I feel so bad in doing so. But this one, I could not take it anymore. Not sure if this the writer's typical style, something that did not appeal to me either, or if it's different.

I do appreciate, however, that Random House and Net Galley provided me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

I've read all his books (except The Ground Beneath Her Feet- i have put TGBHF down 3 times) and this was really entertaining. The political references were unnecessary, cheapened the story, and no doubt were wedged-in at the last minute to please somebody.

This is my first journey into Salman Rushdie's works, but definitely not the last.

The Golden House is one of those books that you read not for the story itself, but the writing. I believe this is what would look like reading melody itself. The pacing is slow where still life is described, and dramatically fast during the most emotional parts of the book. You cannot help but read following the rhythm. The story itself is engaging enough that you want to see the outcome, no matter how the arch could only lead in one predictable direction.

Quite possibly one of the reads I can imagine adapted to theatre.

This, along with Ground Beneath Her Feet, displays Rushdie's command of language and story telling. Well written to say the least with intricately developed characters and insight into the human condition.

The Great American Novel?
A great American novel?
I don't know.
I'll leave that up to the Dwight Garners of the world.
They know who they are.
I do know "The Golden House" gave me great enjoyment, so much so it's the most captivating novel of 2017 and among the best of the 21st century because of its riches: The tale, the pace, the setting, the narrator, the other main characters, the drama, the humor and the cultural references.

Before reading this book, I had never read any of Salman Rushdie's works before, and this one took me quite a while to get through, but the time was well spent. I found myself having to sustain concentration through the twists, turns, and layers of plot; the references to all sorts of things I found myself needing to look up;penetrating statements on aspects of today's odd political circumstances; and most of all, the magic of Rushdie's writing; sometimes so mesmerizing, always compelling. Most of all, I enjoyed the descriptions; my mind's eye had a field day imagining each scene as described. Very satisfying.

I often read books in snatches through the day; a few pages between activities, here and there. This book wouldn't allow for that; I had to stop everything and just give it full attention. I now can't wait to read more of Rushdie's novels. Highly recommended.

Apologies to the publisher, who graciously granted me an ARC but I just could not engage with this novel. I honestly think Rushdie is a love it or hate it author. While this is the most accessible of his novels (certainly more so than Satanic Verses), I still found myself exhausted by everything- the language, the characters, trying to find the plot line. I appreciate what he was trying to do with the Golden family and politics, but gosh, I didn't find a character to hitch onto. I know others have said this picks up after the first third but I did not finish.

A secretive rich foreigner and his three sons move into a mansion in an isolated New York City neighborhood during the Obama administration. The protagonist, the narrator, hopes to unearth their story and make it into a film. He successfully gains acceptance as a frequent visitor to the mansion and he begins his chronicling of the lives of the family and their past.

The first half of the book is disjointed: disconnected portraits of a half dozen main characters with little plot development. The plot begins advancing in the second half of the book and then begins to pick up speed. But the final episodes occur only after some lengthy back tracking. And the conclusion is followed by slow epilog.

The book is filled with references to French, American, and Bollywood movies. It is also filled with references to the contemporary New York art scene, with a few dozen sly references to literary masterworks and song lyrics. Some readers will spend hundreds of joyful hours trying to find all these references. But other readers will be annoyed by all the obscure references and reading the book for them will seem to be too much like work.

A reader can also learn many acronyms and variations on pronouns associated with “gender fluidity”. But some readers may dislike one major theme: one presidential candidate to replace Obama is depicted as one of Batman’s major enemies, the Joker.

Excellent narrator of a story in the style of The Royal Tennenbaums meets The Bonfire of the Vanities. The passages on Donald Trump might look odd since we are living his Presidency in real time. Very enjoyable. I recommend it!!

Novel is classic Rushdie: a bit pompous, a bit esoteric, but a delightful read. I think anyone who is a fan of Rushdie will enjoy this novel. I am not a professional critic or anything, but there are a few things that didn't work for me. First, there is a thinly-veiled criticism of the Trump administration which seemed like a weird, last minute addendum to the story. Criticizing politicians is not a new thing for Rushdie, but this just felt misplaced and tacked-on. Second, there are a ton of esoteric film references, as the main character is a cinematographer. It seemed a bit forced, in my humble opinion. Lastly, he plays with foreign language a bit more than in other books. I speak enough French, German, and Russian to get most of the jokes, but not everyone will. Overall, I enjoyed the read and would recommend it to anyone who has read his books before.

I was excited to read this after watching his interview on Tavis Smiley. However, I was basically diappointed. The reason being, I did not find any of the characters likeable. I am so tired of every story being dark with no hope.

Rushdie has surely captured the zeitgeist of America in this his latest novel. Bracketed by the election of Barack Obama in 2008 and Donald Trump in 2016 it tells the story of the mysterious and fabulously wealthy Golden family. Nero Golden and his three grown sons Petya, Apu and Dionysus arrive in the exclusive area of Greenwich Village known as the 'Gardens', from an unamed country quickly revealed as India. How Nero came by his wealth is murky to say the least. A young neighbor Rene, who is just beginning his career as a filmmaker is mesmerized by the Goldens and quickly becomes enmeshed in their family drama as he seeks to understand them. The ever erudite Rushdie improbably puts into the mouth of the young Rene a stew of historic, literary and cinematic references, as well as politics. ( Trump Derangement Syndrome is on full display here). The violence of everyday life is everywhere as the novels comes to its conclusion. But in the end I remained emotionally detached from these characters a fatal flaw for me in any novel.

I so wanted to LOVE this book. Having read Midnights Children, a personal favorite of mine, I have just realized that I prefer Rushdie's magical realism over this departure. There were so many gorgeous writing themes and touches - truly owing to Rushdie's genius and true writing style - but I got lost by the time the plot really took off. This book was a true character study and that is what propels the plot until around 60-70% when things start happening with more frequency. I stayed through till the end, but on my own, I'm not sure I would have. There were some great character pictures, I loved D especially, but there was not as much momentum as I would have liked.

That being said, if you enjoy the plots that are more focused on characters and seeing them from many angles, AND great writing that challenges the line between fact and fiction, you may like this.

Disclaimer: I received this book in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley

I am not sure what developed characters might look like. Salman Rushdie delivers still another insightful mysterious novel that seems part magic and part real life. The mixture of real characters from history with others that seem real enough but ought not to be, represents a post rage society where things are mostly boring. Gold seems to represent the ultimate in boredom with the remaining necessity in life to find something meaningful to do. But today is post post rage and now the Obama presidency is over. A different kind of rage is in place and gold can easily represent evil instead of merely boredom.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley for free in exchange for an honest review.
Lukewarm best describes my experience with The Golden House. I had high hopes for this book and it never grabbed me the way I wanted it to. While there were fleeting moments of brilliance, they weren't able to do more than keep me reading, hoping for more.

In all fairness, I could barely get through a few sentences of a couple of pages and I could not read this book. I don't like the Trump bashing as I hear enough of this everyday and everywhere. I usually give books at least 50 pages and then allow myself to give up. In reading The Golden House, I felt myself getting restless and then became completely disinterested. I don't know how the reviewers can compare this book to The Great Gatsby and The Bonfire of the Vanities because those two books I have thoroughly enjoyed and could not put down. I simply couldn't follow The Golden House. I feel badly about such a negative review but it's important to be truthful when writing a review.

This novel by Rushdie is a present day commentary on modern day America in the build up to Trump and how fact and fiction as well as art and reality collapse into one other. There have been a number of books written in the wake of the shock of Trump (this desperate need to make sense of things) and Rushdie’s novel definitely helps shed light (or explain the darkness) upon the situation (for those of us who do not live in America, but are watching with fear from afar). There is no magic realism here but bleak reality rooted in the otherworldly dimension of the economically privileged (Rushdie opens the novel with a quote by François Truffaut “Le vie a beaucoup plus/d’imagination que nous.”) Rushdie exposes us to victims of madmen shootings, Mafia murders and tragic gender crisis situations (our inability to mutate, to change, to immigrate successfully).

This novel about the failure of reinvention has an artificial feel and set up (strangely similar in a way to ‘The Great Gatsby’) where the action and characters centre around the “Gardens,” the narrative is told from Rene (budding script writer/movie maker, transformer of life into artifice) often becoming scripts that build up pace and drama (scenes mostly imagined by the narrator). The importance of movies and art in shaping our consciousness are key themes. The narrative is layered and yet extremely static. The build up and unravelling of the Golden family tale takes its time, we are not even introduced to Rene (the narrator) until Chapter 4. Then the action suddenly picks up and spirals out of control. The narrator/main character slips in and out of the narrative, shaping it, creating it, participating in it. I particularly liked the detail of reinvention: the affluent Goldens take on Roman names which in turn become distorted and shaped to fit them. But the Roman reference really sets the stage for treachery, megalomania, madness, doom, poison and burning cities.

The biblical connotations that the Gardens have are vast (childhood innocence, sibling rivalry, evil entering the Garden – the definition of evil malleable – like anything that attempts to be fixed down/defined/explained in this novel), eventually the fire (Devil) will ensure complete erasure and expulsion. Rushdie has written a novel that encompasses the entire diseased, corrupt, ravaged society we live in its full colour and splendour! He leaves nothing out!

A brilliant, wonderful and (eventually) addictive read!

“In these our cowardly times, we deny the grandeur of the Universal, and assert and glorify our local Bigotries, and so we cannot agree on much. In these our degenerate times, men bent on nothing but vainglory and personal gain – hollow, bombastic men for whom nothing is off-limits if it advances their petty cause – will claim to be great leaders and benefactors, acting in the common good, and calling all who oppose them liars, envious, little people, stupid people, stiffs, and in a precise reversal of the truth, dishonest and corrupt. We are so divided, so hostile to one another, so driven by sanctimony and scorn, so lost in cynicism, that we call out pomposity idealism, so disenchanted with our rulers, so willing to jeer at the institutions of our state, that the very word goodness has been emptied of meaning and needs, perhaps to be set aside for a time, like all the other poisoned words, spirituality, for example, final solution, for example, and (at least when applied to skyscrapers and fried potatoes) freedom.”

Although a little dense, and somewhat plodding in the first half, this mashup of ideas, pop culture, classical tropes, and myth is not entirely without charm.
This was my first Salman Rushdie book since The Satanic Verses, and my one piece of advice to any prospective readers is: stick with it. The Golden family's neighbor, who is the story's narrator, takes us through the Golden family's arrival in New York and their evolution, as well as that of the world around them, across the Obama years.
The writing is different, sometimes having an unexpected perspective or style, chock full of classical and contemporary allusions, and I don't think anyone should be surprised that Rushdie clearly critiques, from a lofty perch, our current insane drive towards some unknown abyss. Social commentary and all, an entertaining enough read for all.

It is complex and not an easy read.
Current affairs seem to be running through the story in a thoughtful way.
That said, I'm not sure I understand it.
It has left me deep in thought and that's always a good thing to find in a novel.

"The Golden House" is an ambitious, sprawling novel, the essence of which is not well captured by its simple plot: A young aspiring film-maker is captivated by the family (older man of foreign extraction and his three adult sons) that has moved into their cloistered neighborhood and by the mystery surrounding the family's previous circumstances. While this mystery is eventually revealed to readers, it's almost incidental to the scope and major accomplishment of the novel, which is to offer a broad-ranging commentary on modern American culture. For that reason, the cover blurb's comparison of "The Golden House" to "Bonfire of the Vanities" is apt. Topics such as political correctness, Occupy Wall Street, modern art, gender identity, the disaster that is currently our political landscape, and more are dissected with wit and searing insight in a prose that frequently left me slack-jawed in admiration.

And such prose! As I read, I dog-eared passages I found particularly powerful in anticipation of writing this review, and I find myself now confronted with a collection of dog-eared quotes every few pages that are almost impossible to choose from. Do I offer one character's cutting observation of the Occupy Wall Street movement: "They have no leaders...They are a mouse without a head. They are a dead mouse that does not know it is dead."? Or this rumination on the role of randomness in dictating our fates: "Here is the earth and it is so beautiful and we are so lucky to be here with one another and we are so stupid and what happens to us is so stupid and we don't deserve our stupid luck."? Or these: "But if human nature were not a mystery, we'd have no need of poets." and "The living are of small importance to the business of the world." Or, maybe, this expression of compassion for one of the three Golden sons: "[H]e had been dealt a tough hand, and we all build our walls, do we not, and maybe we don't even know what we are building them against, what force will finally storm them and destroy our little dreams."

There is only one section in the novel where the prose is not so carefully crafted, where each sentence doesn't drip with a Jim Morrison-like "perfect precision." This is the section where the protagonist is compelled to describe his own personal tragedy, and the run-on sentences and fragments create a jarring interlude that convey the horror and grief felt more effectively than perfect prose ever could.

I will confess here that this is the first novel by Rushdie I have ever read (it will not be the last), so I am unable to offer comparisons to his other works or an assessment of where this novel stands in his repertoire. I will say that I admire his intellectualism and refusal to dumb down his writing; this novel is replete with references to classic works of art, literature, and film, references that could no doubt serve as the basis for a dozen master's theses.

It has been said that the mark of a great story is that it remains great even after you know how it turns out. By this criterion, "The Golden House" is a great story and novel, certainly one of the best novels of this year, or even decade. It is a novel worth reading, and re-reading. It will not surprise me in the least if it ends up on the short lists for all the major literature prizes; it deserves to be so.