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A review by odin45mp
The Golden House by Salman Rushdie
2.0
I'm conflicted about this book. It is beautifully written. Rushdie has a way with the English language and you feel the ennui and pathos of his characters. You feel swept up in the rantings and musings of the Goldens and our narrator. There are parallels to be drawn to our lives. There is commentary on the state of our nation, who we trust, who we believe in, what we think capable of happening.
But not much happens for most of the novel, it is slow expository worldbuilding-by-observation and not by *doing*. Pages of sideways references to events that I am surprised landed in a contemporary novel (GamerGate, for example). But I don't care. It reflects on the characters' focuses but means nothing to me, the reader. Even, oddly enough, for events I cared about, like the narrator's descriptions of the 2016 Presidential campaign. Or the aforementioned video-games-and-misogyny cultural battleground.
I just don't care that much. A beautifully written hot mess of a novel.
But not much happens for most of the novel, it is slow expository worldbuilding-by-observation and not by *doing*. Pages of sideways references to events that I am surprised landed in a contemporary novel (GamerGate, for example). But I don't care. It reflects on the characters' focuses but means nothing to me, the reader. Even, oddly enough, for events I cared about, like the narrator's descriptions of the 2016 Presidential campaign. Or the aforementioned video-games-and-misogyny cultural battleground.
I just don't care that much. A beautifully written hot mess of a novel.