Gold Diggers by Sanjena Sathian is a perfect fit for readers who appreciate captivating, magical realist stories that explore the complexities of identity, ambition, and the immigrant experience, particularly those interested in Indian-American culture and the struggles of second-generation Americans navigating the American dream.

This was a little stranger than I expected, in the best way! I enjoyed the Indian cultural atmosphere and history along with the sort of mystical elements. Great storytelling and characterization.

This book was beautifully written but just not for me. I will recommend it for folks who enjoy magical realism and rich writing.

This book was so confusing to me--was it realism, fantasy, analogy--was Neal a p0sitive pr0tagonist or simply a simpleton who wants to take a shortcut instead of putting in the work as his family expects him to. There were some funny scenes--finding and getting a drunk friend home, but mostly scenes just flowed on and I didn't care about them one way or another. I thought from the blurb that this book would be better, but I was disappointed and would probably not recommend it (however, some readers might enjoy the gold story so I would put it in a library collection.

This was a surprising shelf mover, despite not getting the volume of press I was expecting, this one has consistently been checked out by browsing patrons

Gold Diggers by Sanjena Sathain is a melting pot of alchemy mythology, striving immigrant tales and the pressures of Asian parents, thriller and mystery, with even heist hijinks mixed in.

The novel asks the question of what it means to be both American and Indian? explores the deep ties of gold to the south Asian communities, and to what lengths a parent or a striving child or young adult will go to achieve the success expected of them. There is a dark side to the gilded success of Sathain’s MCs.

I liked this novel, and while it was touted by some as magical realism, I believe that label is too often given only to BIPOC authors striving to write stories about their own culture, religion, practices, and ideals, and things that might seem like outlandish or foreign practices and beliefs to a stereotypical white American audience, would not even be given a second thought among those familiar with the practices or customs.

The elixir here may or may not have the powers the MCs believe it has, but that is the core of its power, the belief that it does what it claims to do and has life giving or taking power. It may be fiction but it’s more complex than any urban fantasy or simply slapping on a lazy label of magical realism. It’s a commentary on the power of gold in both American and Indian cultures, the mythos and the power it’s imbued or believed to be imbued with, the absolute drive to do anything to achieve success, and the dark underbelly of the intersection of such beliefs and striving towards excellence.

I was pleasantly surprised to find this was a debut given the beautiful prose and extraordinary storytelling and would highly recommend to anyone!

thanks to NetGalley for the arc!

I enjoyed this book because of the south asian representation. The writing was witty and the story was inventive.

Loved every bit of this book. Magical realism never felt better. The author writes with great insight about the diaspora communities in the USA and here is an empathetic storyline that stays with you from start to finish!

A teenage boy who is a bit obsessed by a teenage girl. Teenage boy does anything he believes will put him in greater favor with teenage girl. Unfortunately, his actions have negative adverse outcomes. Teenage boy blames himself for majority of his life for negative adverse outcome, even though he is just a small portion of that outcome. Fast forward to adulthood... Now adult teenage boy is still obsessed with his fictional idea of past teenage girl. They reconnect and fall straight back into delinquent and addictive behaviors. They eventually learn that these delinquent behaviors never changed any person's life - and end up living happily every after anyways. Lost, loose stereotypes of addiction and cultural discrimination. Possible interesting storyline of the "gold diggers" but not enough was invested to make it an interesting plot.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

This book was entertaining and I loved the interweaving of history with culture and modern Indian American identity. I liked that the narrator was a guy in the arts, which I haven't seen often in literature! As an Indian American reader myself, I felt this was written more for a white audience. It glossed over or didn't get as deep as I would like in certain topics, but still really interesting and well written. I loved the characters!

Sanjena Sathian’s “Gold Diggers” is a stunning debut novel that blends immigrant narratives, coming of age tropes, eastern mythology and contemporary thrillers to produce a compelling social satire.

The novel starts by putting the spotlight on a community of Indian American teenagers in a high school in Hammond Creek, Georgia. The teen narrator, Neil Narayan fantasizes about his neighbor Anita Dayal, When Neil catches Anita drinking gold, the novel picks up pace and pivots toward the allegorical.

A tragedy that ensues from the pursuit of the “lemonade” slingshots the novel into its second half, as both Neil and Anita are in their 20s, living in the Bay Area, and struggling with disappointments:

Overall, the book is a fantastic example of modern magical realism, as gold’s symbolism for Indian Americans lends to the “realism” side, and gold itself is the core of its magic. Sathian uses gold to represent the relentless ambition of Indian American families, but she doesn’t shy away from criticizing the high-pressure environment that’s often inherent with Indian American communities. Neil is hounded by the American Dream, his parents never miss an opportunity to remind him of their sacrifices to get him to the United States so he could succeed in this “land of opportunity."

I’m judging the L.A. Times 2020 and 2021 fiction contest. It’d be generous to call what I’m doing upon my first cursory glance—reading. I also don’t take this task lightly. As a fellow writer and lover of words and books, I took this position—in hopes of being a good literary citizen. My heart aches for all the writers who have a debut at this time. What I can share now is the thing that held my attention and got this book from the perspective pile into the read further pile.

A small pink tongue darted out to taste the thing that still seemed forbidden. Was it tangier? Too sour? She had tried her mother’s drink only once, briefly, surreptitiously. But she suspected her iteration was not yet right. That seemed to happen in migration. The old recipes were never quite the same on this side of the world.

What a fun, unique book! I did not know exactly what to expect when I read the description for this book, but I was blown away by the poetic language and the twisting plot. This is an exceptionally written debut that speaks volumes about the pressures put on first-generation immigrant children to succeed, particularly in the Indian community. Witty, sad, and exceptional.

A well written debut novel.Takes us into a world a culture that was entertaining and interesting.There is magic realism fun moments.An author I will be following.#netgalley #penguinpress.

Gold Diggers is in part in fact about gold diggers during the American gold rush. But, mostly it is about the Indian American experience. Gold holds an important place in Indian culture, being gifted with best wishes for weddings and births. Each peace holds a special meaning and intention. This story spans several decades and our protagonist is Neil, a young Indian American man who starts the book as a teen living in the suburbs of Atlanta in the years following 9/11. A teen who rubs elbows with other Indian American teens in his family's social circle. He feels like a bit of an underachiever in this crowd. He discovers that one overachieving family is having their daughter drink a beverage that contains melted down gold in the hope that it will bring her skill and luck. The gold they use for this is stolen from other Indian families' treasured collections of gold received at special events.

This was a fun read about coming of age in the Indian diaspora when you don't quite fit the mold and the things one will do in hopes of success and advantage. There is definite wit infused throughout this novel and Neil is a relatable character who while he made some questionable choices, I hoped for him to find his own happiness.

What to listen to while reading...
Young Folks by Peter Bjorn and John
Gold by Chet Faker
Electric Feel by MGMT
Crazy by Gnarls Barkley
Run On by Moby
DARE by Gorillaz

Thank you to both #NetGalley and Penguin Group/The Penguin Press for providing me an advance copy of Sanjena Sathian’s contemporary fiction novel, Gold Diggers, in exchange for an honest review.

#GoldDiggers is a coming-of-age tale with a splash of magical realism. To be honest, I was hoping that the novel held a bit more magic than it did realism. While the novel is well-written and contains enchanting passages, it is unfortunately closer to literary fiction than it is to magical realism.

The story opens with the classic plotline of boy falls in love with his next-door neighbor who drops him as soon as she becomes pretty and popular in high school, which happens to be where much of the first half of the novel is set. The first half is also my favorite part of the book because it is where most of the humor lies.

Full disclosure, I do not know much about Indian culture. Therefore, I cannot comment on the accuracy or the depth of how it is portrayed here. Given the author’s background, however, I am going to assume it resembles something near the truth; albeit probably watered down for the purposes of catering to the U.S. publishing industry and its target market.

Although I enjoyed learning about Indian culture, this was difficult for me to review since I am not familiar with much of it and do not have anything to compare it too. Also, apart from my ignorance, I loved the author’s prose more than the story itself. I was expecting a gold heist, but really this was a disguise for themes like suicide, drugs, racism, and depression as well as was a metaphor for what it takes to realize what’s left of the American dream.

Additionally, personality-wise, I was not a huge fan of either Neil or Anita. I tolerated and felt bad for Neil for the first half, but as an ambitious person I could not understand his lack of drive. Anita was the exact opposite for me where she started out as a typical mean girl, but gradually became more tolerable as the story wore on; especially, at the beauty pageant (one of the best scenes in the novel).

If I had more time to write this review, I feel like this is the type of book I would revisit to ensure personal clarity. On the one hand, the novel is funny, well-written, and contains the fascinating concept of the ability to drink gold for ambition. On the other, I think it would help readers to go in expecting a darker literary fiction novel than how the book blurb describes it and to be prepared for characters who have irritating personalities.

Knowing this in advance would have probably boosted the book’s rating for me since I would not have been so focused on the fact that it did not conform to advertised expectations and I could have changed my perspective to match that of what the novel really concerned.

This book was on its way to a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating from me, until it wasn't. I loved the first half - it drew me in from the first page, and had me laughing out loud. I was rooting for Neil until we picked up with him 10 years in the future. He wasn't the boy I remembered, and I was no longer invested in his story. Don't get me wrong, I wanted things to work out for him, but I couldn't let myself be swept away with the story.

Gold Diggers by Sanjena Sathian is a promising debut. This immigrant tale of magical realism kept me hooked throughout. While Neil is not necessarily the most likeable character, I understand his character arc and why he made the decisions he did. I would have loved more of a backstory for Lakshmi and Anjali - a book centred around the three generations of the women would have been great!

Sanjena Sathian managed to craft a fun, enjoyable novel out of this fascinating concept. She manages, throughout the story, to have one foot firmly rooted in realism, and another rooted in a more magical sphere. There's a very dry humor to it. I also appreciated how the novel managed to bring in heavier themes of diaspora angst, mental health, and success through a capitalist lens into the lighter tone. There's also a tangible tension between generations, and even within generations. The sense of resentment is strong, which cast a shadow on the dynamics of family and community. On an unrelated note, the cover is stunning! I was drawn to the book by the story, but the cover is a real standout!

𝑮𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝑫𝒊𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒔, the debut novel from Sanjena Sathian, is where ambition meets alchemy. Neil Narayan, a teenager of Indian immigrants living in Atlanta, finds himself struggling to find his place in the world. Neil discovers that Anita and her mother have been making a potion to achieve success by infusing lemonade with gold stolen from their Indian neighbors. In this episode, we talk to journalist Sanjena Sathian about her debut work, how she came about writing her novel, and her teenage experiences as an Indian American in suburban Atlanta.