About the Author
A Paul and Daisy Soros fellow, Sanjena Sathian is a 2019 graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. She has worked as a reporter in Mumbai and San Francisco, with nonfiction bylines for The New Yorker, The New York Times, Food & Wine, The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Chronicle, and more. And her award-winning short fiction has been published in Boulevard, Joyland, Salt Hill, and The Master's Review. Follow @sanjenasathian on Twitter, Visit sanjena.com
About the book
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?
Review
I loved the whole alchemy and magical realism aspect of this story and the way history, colonialism, racism is the beginning and the ghosts of the past are the companion at the end. Achievement, success can hardly be differentiated between greed and wealth, which is often synonymous with the word success.
I guess it depends on frame of reference, because although I found this an incredibly intriguing read with vast depth - I didn't find it funny or amusing. Instead I couldn't help but feel the enormity of the pressure put on these children, young women and men, to achieve and adhere to rules and the expectations of their families and the society they are born into.
What a heavy burden to carry, perhaps one that could make certain people crumble and bend with the weight. What if the burden could be lifted by an advantage? That's the crux at the core of this story. Are Neil and Anita merely doing what they can to lessen the burden by achieving whatever they set their minds to by stealing the talents, the futures, the mojo of others - or is this just pure and simple greed.
It's a read steeped in culture, history, myth and magical realism. Sathian certainly has her finger on the pulse of the inner workings of the culture embedded in this read and is a great storyteller to boot. This is the kind of multi-layered story that delivers no matter which thread you follow or relate to the most.
Buy Gold Diggers at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Simon & Schuster Uk; pub date 19 August 2021 -Hardback - £14.99. Buy at Amazon com.
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