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andreinavhernandez98's review
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book should have worked for me: the history, the specific interest (eating gold as part of Indian tradition), etc, but I just couldn’t connect with the characters. I would say that the reflections in the last chapters redeemed the story for me.
pages_and_papercrafts's review
2.75
A coming of age novel about Neil, an Indian American. I thought it was quite long and lost interest about halfway through.
etakloknok's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
harymouck's review
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Sophisticated prose, well-developed characters, darkly witty, highly original concept. There's a long, slow section in the middle that almost made me give up, but I''m glad I persisted because the ending is just beautiful. Will definitely read more from this author.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation, Suicide, and Drug use
Minor: Racism, Vomit, Gun violence, Grief, and Genocide
pastelplanet's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-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
3.75
jet78's review
adventurous
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide
saistewart's review
3.0
This one put me in a reading slump. I went into it wanting to love it, searching for something that makes a certain class of people and certain kind of events influencing their decisions, more relatable but just couldn’t fall in love with the plot or the characters.
The story delves into understanding the reverence of gold in a culture already familiar to me with a dash of magical realism. It wasn’t bad.. but it dragged. Descriptions were a hit and miss.
There were vivid characters. However, as they don’t really grow emotionally while dealing with events from their childhood, it makes it a struggle to get through to the end.
The story delves into understanding the reverence of gold in a culture already familiar to me with a dash of magical realism. It wasn’t bad.. but it dragged. Descriptions were a hit and miss.
There were vivid characters. However, as they don’t really grow emotionally while dealing with events from their childhood, it makes it a struggle to get through to the end.
karthikskorner's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
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
3.5
“…I glimpsed the truth about history, that it flows towards us as we flow toward it, that we each shine sense on the other.”
My girlfriend (a more-than-avid reader and aspiring editor) and sister (just an avid reader, a consultant if you must know) have been trying to get me to read for so long now. Apart from my scripted development for television internships and a single 400-level literature course to fulfill my honors program in college, I had not read a book in a long time. In fact, in 2023, I read a whopping 0 books. So, this year, I wanted to get into reading, but wanted to be realistic since I spend most of my free time watching movies, which is why I set my reading goal at 3 books.
Well, this was the third book. My conclusion at reaching this goal quickly: reading kinda fun, dawg.
Something I appreciate about books—even though I have not been reading many in the past decade—is that there are increasingly more books on Indian / Indian-American experiences, something Hollywood still lacked significantly with little to no room for growth. When I saw GOLD DIGGERS in the bookstore, I decided that it was finally time to start a story where my other passion of film lacked: showcasing something (hopefully) from the Indian-American experience. Additionally, it helped that this book took place in the Georgia suburbs, speaking directly to my own lived experience.
GOLD DIGGERS first half captures a lot of what I was looking for. A fast-paced page turned that was relatable to my lived-experience in high school as an Indian-American: the gossip of the Indian community, hanging out in basements, feeling too dumb for the other Indians I grew up with who were doing everything for their college applications, etc. Where this book proved strongest to me was in the realism, not in the alchemy of it all. To me, that was mostly secondary, if not, at times even tertiary. While it made for some interesting plot in Part 1, what honestly kept me reading was how Neil and his life—an unpopular opinion, I guess, based on some of the reviews I’ve seen on here.
The second part, when it switches to the Bay, was fine, at times even solid-to-good, but once again, I liked most when the story was just Neil’s new lived experience in the Bay Area partaking in drugs, researching for his thesis, and reconnecting with Anita. Once it started getting back into the alchemy, which then in turn became a heist, that’s where the story started to lose me a bit. The magic of magical realism has never been that compelling to me, and GOLD DIGGERS alchemy, magical storyline was no different.
All in all, I did enjoy GOLD DIGGERS, I think it reiterates a lot of what the first and second-generation Indian-American experience is: pushing and pulling with the waves of our ancestors, intersecting at this point in time we live in the present.
I’m intrigued to read another Indian-American story soon, only this time, hoping for something without the magic. I’m sure of Sanjena Sathian writes a more grounded, realistic fiction novel next, she’ll have me hooked.
A light 7/10.
My girlfriend (a more-than-avid reader and aspiring editor) and sister (just an avid reader, a consultant if you must know) have been trying to get me to read for so long now. Apart from my scripted development for television internships and a single 400-level literature course to fulfill my honors program in college, I had not read a book in a long time. In fact, in 2023, I read a whopping 0 books. So, this year, I wanted to get into reading, but wanted to be realistic since I spend most of my free time watching movies, which is why I set my reading goal at 3 books.
Well, this was the third book. My conclusion at reaching this goal quickly: reading kinda fun, dawg.
Something I appreciate about books—even though I have not been reading many in the past decade—is that there are increasingly more books on Indian / Indian-American experiences, something Hollywood still lacked significantly with little to no room for growth. When I saw GOLD DIGGERS in the bookstore, I decided that it was finally time to start a story where my other passion of film lacked: showcasing something (hopefully) from the Indian-American experience. Additionally, it helped that this book took place in the Georgia suburbs, speaking directly to my own lived experience.
GOLD DIGGERS first half captures a lot of what I was looking for. A fast-paced page turned that was relatable to my lived-experience in high school as an Indian-American: the gossip of the Indian community, hanging out in basements, feeling too dumb for the other Indians I grew up with who were doing everything for their college applications, etc. Where this book proved strongest to me was in the realism, not in the alchemy of it all. To me, that was mostly secondary, if not, at times even tertiary. While it made for some interesting plot in Part 1, what honestly kept me reading was how Neil and his life—an unpopular opinion, I guess, based on some of the reviews I’ve seen on here.
The second part, when it switches to the Bay, was fine, at times even solid-to-good, but once again, I liked most when the story was just Neil’s new lived experience in the Bay Area partaking in drugs, researching for his thesis, and reconnecting with Anita. Once it started getting back into the alchemy, which then in turn became a heist, that’s where the story started to lose me a bit. The magic of magical realism has never been that compelling to me, and GOLD DIGGERS alchemy, magical storyline was no different.
All in all, I did enjoy GOLD DIGGERS, I think it reiterates a lot of what the first and second-generation Indian-American experience is: pushing and pulling with the waves of our ancestors, intersecting at this point in time we live in the present.
I’m intrigued to read another Indian-American story soon, only this time, hoping for something without the magic. I’m sure of Sanjena Sathian writes a more grounded, realistic fiction novel next, she’ll have me hooked.
A light 7/10.