Publisher’s
write-up:
‘On the day of Barack Obama’s inauguration, an
enigmatic billionaire from Bombay takes up residence in a cloistered community
in Ney York’s Greenwich Village. Along with his improbable name, untraceable
accent and the unmistakable whiff of danger, Nero Golden has brought along his
three adult sons: agoraphobic, alcoholic Petya; Apu, the flamboyant artist; and
D, who harbours an explosive secret even from himself.
The story of the powerful Golden family is told from
the point of view of their neighbour and confidant, René, an aspiring filmmaker
who finds in the Goldens the perfect subject. René chronicles the undoing of
the house of Golden: the high life of money, of art and fashion, a sibling
quarrel, an unexpected metamorphosis, the arrival of a beautiful woman,
betrayal and murder, and far away, in India, the unravelling of an insidious
plot.’
Who are you? It might sound like a very easy question but
over the years, the issue of identity has been made so complex that there is no
longer a very direct answer to the question any more. Although whether the
complications are required or not is an entirely different debate altogether, Sir
Salman Rushdie in his thirteenth novel explores the various identity crises in
the society.
It starts with an aspiring filmmaker, son of Belgian academics, René is
writing a film featuring his new neighbours, moving in to New York on the day
President Barack Obama was inaugurated. But who were they – a man and his three
sons (or is it?) trying to dissociate themselves from their old names, with the
patriarch naming himself Nero Golden, with his sons assuming Roman names
themselves – Petronius (Petya), Lucius Apulius (Apu) and Dionysus (D).
Predictably so, René’s film is called The
Golden House and the question he asks is – who are they? Is it really
possible to be completely shed all your past identities?
In his quest, René does get some of his answers, the Goldens are an
extremely wealthy family with Indian origins where the patriarch seems to have
made the decision to move out of his past life post the death of his wife
following the terrorist attack in Mumbai on 26th November, 2008. But
is that the only reason? While René tries to find the answers and to learn
about the Goldens for his own film, René gets too involved that he becomes a
part of the story of the Goldens himself.
The other identity issues that the author raises through his various
characters are intriguing – one is that of Petya and alcoholic and agoraphobic,
Apu – an artist who longs to return to his homeland and original identity and
that of D, their half-brother who is confused about whether he is man or a woman or the category
of transgender he falls under. The women have a significant role too, Riya D,
helping her boyfriend (or girlfriend) D through the identity crisis and at the
other end, Nero marrying a significantly younger Russian woman, Vasilisa, whose
entry eventually makes all the sons leave the Golden House as she assumes
absolute control.
The author has made a good decision to return to realism rather than the
usual genre of his being magic realism. This
book lacks any element of magic and in the era of post-truth or truthiness
(coined by comedian Stephen Colbert) the question is always as to whether
everything we hear or see or told is actually the reality. The author doesn’t
leave that stone unturned and frequently makes allusions to the current
President of the United States as the story moves towards the end of Obama’s
term. Without ever taking names, he
refers to the winner of the 2016 Presidential Election as The Joker and his principal opponent as Batwoman. Considering René’s own background, he
makes a lot of pop culture references, from Batman to The Great Gatsby, which
considering my lack of knowledge in the area, started becoming difficult to
follow and appreciate.
The author fills the book with various other allusions as well – such as
Nero himself alluding to Trump, a rich man who considers himself all powerful
and invulnerable, with a young wife from Eastern Europe, and a highly murky
past from when investigated would open a can of worms. The author also brings
out that even if you wish to shed your identities, they would eventually catch
up to you and when it does, the Goldens start to fall apart.
René the narrator was very unlike Saleem
Sinai of Midnight’s Children wherein,
René is not the principal protagonist and as a writer of the Golden family’s mockumentary – what he describes as a
story where he assumes the events whenever he wasn’t present, what we often do
about people around us. Thus, René being the narrator rather than being one of
the Goldens was indeed a very good choice.
The final third is where the author chooses to bring up the murky past
which again, has a lot of allusions to reality and this is where, the extent of
thrill would vary based on whom you are and the extent to which you know the
history of the city of Bombay / Mumbai and how closely you followed the
campaign of the current President of the United States. Since I am reasonably
aware of both, it was very clear to me as to where he was alluding to Haji
Mastan and Dawood Ibrahim (Mumbai gansters) and also Donald Trump and based on
the sequences, I could predict what was going to happen.
However, for those who aren’t familiar with those, along with the
various issues of identity he has raised – touching upon blind nationalism,
gender politics, other identity issues, this would also be a thriller plot
unravelling along with an interesting political backdrop. But it could also be
argued at the same time that for the plot, the political background was quite
unnecessary.
The author has taken up a courageous task, of making political
connections on an interesting plot, and that too, taking a position contrary to
the trend in the two countries he hails from – being United Kingdom and India
and also the country where he is currently residing, being the United States.
To conclude – it is an intriguing plot that keeps you gripped till the
end and on that note, I would award the book a rating of eight on ten.
Rating – 8/10
Have a nice day,
Andy
