Book Review: The Golden House by Salman Rushdie

Its always been fun receiving a new book every month and reading it with exclusive access, for which I'm largely thankful to Flipkart. This particular book turned out to be a special one, as it was my first encounter with a bound proof copy of Salman Rushdie's latest and 13th novel titled The Golden House.

I've repeatedly been informed about how I'm losing out on life if I still haven't read 'Midnight's Children'. The first mention came up when I was reading Mumbai Fables by Gyan Prakash. However, only recently I was able to procure not one, but two copies of 'Midnight's Children'. Before I could take that up came Rushdie's 'The Golden House' in the mail.

A blood soaked political satire filled with drama, Greek mythology and love, of course is based out of what has been Rushdie's home for the past two decades - the city of New York. All these twists and turns narrated to us from the perspective of René, a young neighbour who wants to make a film on the Goldens and their fates.

Travelling across a timeline, right from Obama taking office to the latest election that resulted in the triumph of Trump. As the characters set on a journey across all of this, and towards their self destruction, Rushdie not forgetting his trail back to India, makes sly references to Aadhar and even Kipling.

I did miss out on a lot of references that have been mentioned in the book, amongst the vast verbose; something Rushdie excels in. When I say that, the diction and writing of the author is still vivid and reflects with magical realism. Yet with his story about Nero J and his motherless sons - Petronius aka Petya, Apuleius aka Apu and Dionysius or D. Golden, Rushdie takes us through a quick run with his complex tale of power, love and politics. Golden House gets a 3 out 5, but personally this one might need a second read.