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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
The Golden Son, Shilpi Somayo Gowda’s second novel, is an intriguing family saga that reminds the reader that families, no matter the diverse cultures in which they may be immersed, have more in common than not. All have hopes and aspirations for their children and themselves; it is the routes they take to achieve those goals that can be so very different.
This is certainly the case for the Patel family of Panchanagar, India, the largest landowning family in their small village. As his father’s eldest son, Anil Patel is expected one day to assume the head-of-family role filled by his father and grandfather before him. But this is not the only reason that Anil is considered to be his family’s “golden son.” The young man is also one of the best students in his area school and he takes his academic work seriously, so seriously that his father encourages him to attend both college and medical school. But when Anil rather surprisingly wins a residency at one of the largest and most prestigious hospitals in Dallas, every member of the Patel family (his parents, his three brothers, and his sister) will feel the repercussions.
Anil leaves behind everything, and everyone, familiar to him when he leaves India. He arrives in Dallas with only the clothes he can carry and arrangements to share an apartment with two fellow Indians when he gets there. And then, despite a slow start in which it is almost as difficult for him to master his new culture as it is to master his studies in the hospital program, Anil begins to thrive. He starts to shine at the hospital, he makes new friends, including his first serious girlfriend, and he begins to plan his future. But it is not going to be that simple.
As the years go by, Anil realizes that he feels completely at home neither in India nor in the United States, and he wonders if he will feel that comfortable anywhere ever again. When called back to India upon the death of his father, Anil almost immediately assumes some of his father’s village responsibilities, but he doubts that he is truly capable of filling the role. But when he returns to Dallas and is forced to see himself as he believes Americans see him, he is no longer sure that he wants any part of the United States once his studies are complete.
Gowda touches on issues in each country, but the most striking and revealing are those regarding the social and legal status of women in India. Women are still very much second-class citizens in India, and their lack of status costs thousands of them their lives every year at the hands of abusive husbands and vicious mothers-in-law. Gowda vividly illustrates this danger in the person of Leena, a childhood friend of Anil’s whose parents marry her into a family that is not what it appears to be. This subplot, in fact, is so intensely written and so disturbing that it at times threatens to take over the whole book.
Bottom Line: The Golden Son is a hard one to put down, one of those books that can easily dominate a person’s free time until that last page is turned - and at just under 400 pages in length, it packs a surprise or two.
This is certainly the case for the Patel family of Panchanagar, India, the largest landowning family in their small village. As his father’s eldest son, Anil Patel is expected one day to assume the head-of-family role filled by his father and grandfather before him. But this is not the only reason that Anil is considered to be his family’s “golden son.” The young man is also one of the best students in his area school and he takes his academic work seriously, so seriously that his father encourages him to attend both college and medical school. But when Anil rather surprisingly wins a residency at one of the largest and most prestigious hospitals in Dallas, every member of the Patel family (his parents, his three brothers, and his sister) will feel the repercussions.
Anil leaves behind everything, and everyone, familiar to him when he leaves India. He arrives in Dallas with only the clothes he can carry and arrangements to share an apartment with two fellow Indians when he gets there. And then, despite a slow start in which it is almost as difficult for him to master his new culture as it is to master his studies in the hospital program, Anil begins to thrive. He starts to shine at the hospital, he makes new friends, including his first serious girlfriend, and he begins to plan his future. But it is not going to be that simple.
As the years go by, Anil realizes that he feels completely at home neither in India nor in the United States, and he wonders if he will feel that comfortable anywhere ever again. When called back to India upon the death of his father, Anil almost immediately assumes some of his father’s village responsibilities, but he doubts that he is truly capable of filling the role. But when he returns to Dallas and is forced to see himself as he believes Americans see him, he is no longer sure that he wants any part of the United States once his studies are complete.
Gowda touches on issues in each country, but the most striking and revealing are those regarding the social and legal status of women in India. Women are still very much second-class citizens in India, and their lack of status costs thousands of them their lives every year at the hands of abusive husbands and vicious mothers-in-law. Gowda vividly illustrates this danger in the person of Leena, a childhood friend of Anil’s whose parents marry her into a family that is not what it appears to be. This subplot, in fact, is so intensely written and so disturbing that it at times threatens to take over the whole book.
Bottom Line: The Golden Son is a hard one to put down, one of those books that can easily dominate a person’s free time until that last page is turned - and at just under 400 pages in length, it packs a surprise or two.
It has been a long time since I have read a book that I wanted to stay up all night to finish but this one fit the bill. Great book, characters you want to hug, well written, just a good one!
From the beginning, this book grabbed my attention and pulled me in. I would read it for hours in the mornings, my oatmeal going cold (and you know how gross cold oatmeal is, all congealed and stuck together) and reading it. It feels so good to find a book that gives you that "just one more chapter" feeling. My few qualms: I think it could definitely have been shorter, even though I did enjoy it and didn't want it to end, it did feel like some parts were excessive and unnecessary. I think Leena's chapters were my favorite, and I would like to have seen more of her. Honestly, I would be fine with a whole book dedicated to her. And the last act of the book--everything just felt to wrapped up in a bow, like the end to a romcom or an episode of a sitcom show. But, still really enjoyed this.
Lovely quick read and quite the page turner toward the end. The end was unexpected but quite satisfying I would say.