Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Gold Diggers

Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Gold Diggers by Sanjena Sathian

13 reviews

trippalli's review

adventurous reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

An interesting and perplexing adventurous drama with lots of drugs and an oddly magical addiction to drinking lemonade me with melted refined gold, not any gold but the gold of fine jewelry full of memories, hopes and power from previous owners and the original goldsmoth's skills and intentions?

Also lots of soap opera drama on love relationships, so many I lost track.. Overall the characters are seeking to make something of themselves and find love.

It seems to have a mostly happy ending although I admit I didn't follow all the drama through it's twists and turns and I lost some of the plot points along the way.. I might've also gotten distracted a bit.. But it was good in a miriad of ways. Especially strong character development...

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elykeepthefaith's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Every single piece of this book was well thought out and masterfully executed. When you start the book it feels like you several different stories are being told and then Sathian discreetly weaves all these different plot points together to create this emotional and raw telling of the immigrant story. The story dissects so many facets of the American Dream and what that means to the South Asian community. One of the things that really sets this book apart is the use of magical realism. If you are going into this book expecting a full blown fantasy, the magic element will not satisfy. The “alchemy” aspect of the book is a thread in the larger plot of the book. I loved it from begin to end!

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jeanbpdx's review

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emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

Engaging, thoughtful story about first-generation immigrant children seeking identity and connection in a coming of age story with magical elements. Some difficult topics, see content warnings

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mandkips's review

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emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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eli_is_trying's review

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hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

3.0

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abookandaspotoftea's review

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.75

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annreadsabook's review

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adventurous challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was an interesting and overall enjoyable novel—it looks at the experiences of Indian Americans and the many ways that immigrant experiences are filled with striving, dreaming, and dealing with the expectations of one’s family. And here’s the twist: the main character, Neil (Neeraj) has stumbled upon his classmate and her mother cooking up a concoction that gives whoever drinks it the success they desire.

I think this book is sometimes marketed as being a “fun” read and I’m not sure I agree with that…the magical realism element itself is fun, I suppose, but most of the substance is quite serious and weighty. In general, I found this a creative tale that interweaves magical realism with real lived experiences. I will say that Neil was not a particularly likable character (I feel that was a goal of Sathian’s, though) and there was one early plot point that kind of confused me and felt incredible even when I suspended my disbelief…Ultimately, a solid read but I’m not sure that this “wowed” me in the way I was hoping.

If you’re interested in magical realism, this might be for you! Please do check out the content warnings for this as there is some heavy content.

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kinomatica's review

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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jayisreading's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

3.75

I finished this book with some mixed feelings, but I’d say it was an enjoyable read overall.

To start with some positives. I enjoyed reading from Neil’s perspective, especially because Sathian put so much attention to the things he was observing around him. It would be such small details, but it added so much to our understanding of who he was as a person. She also has a great sense of humor that she inserted into Neil’s character, and I found myself smiling a handful of times due to the way he reacted to what was happening around him. It really brought to life his character in particular, and you would get aspects of this in other characters as well, such as Anita. Tangentially, I appreciated that she found a great balance between humor and seriousness. While being funny at times, Sathian did a wonderful job approaching heavier topics with grace.

I also really enjoyed the commentary around Indian American life, particularly growing up in an immigrant community. And I loved that Sathian showed how messy it can get. Being Asian American myself, I really sympathized with the gossiping that occurred in a small community, the pressure of meeting parents’ expectations, and just the general feeling of “lostness” that comes with being the child of immigrants. There was this ongoing question that was posed throughout this book, which was what it meant to be Indian and American. It’s a tough question, and I thought Sathian did a wonderful job expressing that identity crisis Neil went through (as well as others), trying to work that out.

My main issue with the book was the handling of the story. I felt as though there were one too many moving parts that ended up making the book feel disconnected. As a result, I found myself finishing the book feeling a little unsatisfied because there were a few things that felt unresolved. It didn’t ruin the overall reading experience, but I found myself longing for more than what was given.

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meredith_williams_'s review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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