This book takes on the question, how did the US get to a point where a Trump presidency was possible? Read on its own this book follows a family that immigrates from India to live in wealth and luxury in the US, growing in power but also developing unwholesome patterns that eventually prove to be disastrous for the family and their associates. ( )

I don't know anyone else who has read all the way through a Rushdie book; they say they are too difficult. I don't get that, especially from people who can read classic Russian literature. Still, he does challenge on several levels. And this book shows the skill of a good writer - there are few who can write a book with nothing but self-centered, narcissistic characters and manage to keep you interested to the last page. In fact, most can't keep you interested past the first page. Rushdie can, and does again here, weaving contemporary events into a fictional narrative of people so lost in themselves they end up losing everyone else. ( )

This was my first experience with Salman Rushdie, so I don't know how typical it is, as far as the language and prose style. There were many things to like in this story, not least the mystery of its realness or fictionality. The narrator, Rene, is a filmmaker, whose interest -- obsession, really -- is Nero Golden, a wealthy immigrant, and his sons. The Roman names invoke a sense of epic, reinforced by their rarefied position of extreme privilege, albeit shaded in some dodgy business in their country of origin. But despite their mythical names, these men are merely human, and they are subject to the pitfalls of life just like every other mortal man. What kept me interested, beyond the sweeping scope of the story, was not knowing how much was real, and how much was part of the story Rene was weaving. He admits several times that some details are embellished, in the name of drama, and at times it seems he can't actually remember which parts have really happened and which parts he has made up. In the end the main theme is the love and devotion of fathers to sons, and it all winds up feeling a bit prosaic, not quite living up to its promise or my expectations. ( )

First edition. First printing. Signed by the author on the title page. Signed at the Toronto Reference Library on September 21, 2017.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book pre-publication.

Salman Rushdie's setting for The Golden House is somewhat unexpected; a quiet garden bounded by mansions in the toniest part of Manhattan. Rene, the son of immigrant professors living on the Garden, is fascinated by his mysterious neighbours, the Goldens. Nero Golden, a mysterious patriarch from another country, lives there with his sons: autistic Petya, artistic Apu and gender-confused D. As Rene gets to know the Goldens he becomes obsessed with making a film about their story, a film hampered by the fact that he does not yet know where this story leads.

The fragile tensions in the Golden house approach breaking point when Vasilisa, a Russian chancer, sweeps Nero off his feet and inveigles herself into the house as his mistress. The sons' worst fears about Vasilisa are confirmed, but they are unable to stop her. Things move from bad to worse, and the Golden house becomes the scene of an unfolding grand family tragedy.

With an outsider's view of tragedy among the ultra-rich, this book reminded me of The Great Gatsby, a novel which Rushdie alludes to regularly here. There are a host of other allusions here, notably comparing the 2016 Presidential election to a cartoon stoush between The Joker and Bat-Girl. Rushdie has some trenchant things to say about what that election means.

I initially thought that an upper Manhattan setting was not what I expected from Rushdie, but this scenario gives him the opportunity to make some observations about life in exile, even in the midst of comfort, that are clearly informed by his own experience. ( )