The Golden House

A Novel

De: Salman Rushdie

Narrado por: Vikas Adam

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A modern American epic set against the panorama of contemporary politics and culture—a hurtling, page-turning mystery that is equal parts The Great Gatsby and The Bonfire of the Vanities

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: NPR, PBS, Harper’s Bazaar, Esquire, Financial Times, The Times of India

On the day of Barack Obama’s inauguration, an enigmatic billionaire from foreign shores takes up residence in the architectural jewel of “the Gardens,” a cloistered community in New York’s Greenwich Village. The neighborhood is a bubble within a bubble, and the residents are immediately intrigued by the eccentric newcomer and his family. Along with his improbable name, untraceable accent, and unmistakable whiff of danger, Nero Golden has brought along his three adult sons: agoraphobic, alcoholic Petya, a brilliant recluse with a tortured mind; Apu, the flamboyant artist, sexually and spiritually omnivorous, famous on twenty blocks; and D, at twenty-two the baby of the family, harboring an explosive secret even from himself. There is no mother, no wife; at least not until Vasilisa, a sleek Russian expat, snags the septuagenarian Nero, becoming the queen to his king—a queen in want of an heir.

Our guide to the Goldens’ world is their neighbor René, an ambitious young filmmaker. Researching a movie about the Goldens, he ingratiates himself into their household. Seduced by their mystique, he is inevitably implicated in their quarrels, their infidelities, and, indeed, their crimes. Meanwhile, like a bad joke, a certain comic-book villain embarks upon a crass presidential run that turns New York upside-down.

Set against the strange and exuberant backdrop of current American culture and politics, The Golden House also marks Salman Rushdie’s triumphant and exciting return to realism. The result is a modern epic of love and terrorism, loss and reinvention—a powerful, timely story told with the daring and panache that make Salman Rushdie a force of light in our dark new age.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“A tonic addition to American—no, world!—literature . . . a Greek tragedy with Indian roots and New York coordinates.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“A recognizably Rushdie novel in its playfulness, its verbal jousting, its audacious bravado, its unapologetic erudition, and its sheer, dazzling brilliance.”—The Boston Globe

“A joy to read . . . clever, intimidating, jocund, and electrifying.”—Chicago Review of Books

“The Golden House . . . ranks among Rushdie’s most ambitious and provocative books [and] displays the quicksilver wit and playful storytelling of Rushdie’s best work.”—USA Today

“From Nero to Obama, via The Godfather . . . The veteran novelist blends ancient history and myth with popular culture, crime caper and film techniques to fashion a morality tale for today.”—The Guardian

“Vivid and appealing.”—The Week

“A tale of identity, reinvention, truth (and lies), and terror, The Golden House captures the climate of American politics and culture from the Obama era to today.”—BuzzFeed

“The Golden House is a brilliant examination of the times we are living in today. A must read!”—PopSugar

“Rushdie writes with a Dickensian exuberance, always full of humor as well as striking scornful, tragic notes.”—The London Evening Standard

“Intelligent and darkly funny . . . with a raw political edge.”—The Times (UK)

“Powerful. . . . The great strength of The Golden House is Rushdie’s ability to balance the fairy tale tone of the story with gritty realities.”—The Toronto Star

“Ambitious and rewarding.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A novel grounded in historical fact yet rife with Rushdie’s signature imaginative prowess.”—Library Journal (starred review)

“A ravishingly well-told, deeply knowledgeable, magnificently insightful, and righteously outraged epic which pos­es timeless questions about the human condition.”—Booklist (starred review)

“A sort of Great Gatsby for our time: everyone is implicated, no one is innocent, and no one comes out unscathed.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

An exacurated plot brilliantly told

The swirling passages ranging from ancient philosophy to the structure of the construction business and the reflections of contemporary issues and at times poetic language compensates for a rather exacurated plot with too much drama and over the top characters.

Top Notch

Salman Rushdie knows how to tell a story and he did it again in this book.

Great storyline, failed miserable dramatization

Read this book avoid this performance, it's a Remarkable story that the very off dramatization has failed. to be politically correct the Indian accent is replaced by a very hunting accent, the characters and thier voices are dramatic out of character, marginalized fundamental of a literary work, read the book, avoid this.

A good story set against the madness of 2016

A rich tapestry of words ideas and stories. At times it's almost overwhelming but nevertheless the story completely draws you into a lie breath that is thick and rich content.

He protesteth much

Equal parts an exploration of American culture in the 2010s and a Rushdie story of Indians straddling the parallel worlds of East/West, Islam/Christendom, Asia/Europe, etc. A page turner from page 1. I was sorry when it ended.

great narrator, I felt submerged in the story. And woah what a story. Probably doesn't have anything to do with current political state.

Fantastic

Isn't it Awesome that the first Great American Novel of the Trump Administration was written by someone born in Bombay?

Terrific story, interesting characters, exciting plot line, unpredictable.

The narrator created a very good voice for each character, man or woman. He also did an excellent job of pronouncing difficult words, especially Hindi words.

Bottom line, one of the best novels I've ever read (listened to). Highly recommended.

Rather disappointing - Did the HuffPo Publish?

As a former Lit major, I've been meaning to read Salman Rushdie for years and just never got around to it. I chose The Golden House first, as opposed to Satanic Verses, based on the reveiws and its recent publication. I don't know if this is representative of Rushdie's body of work since I haven't read anything else. I hope it's not. The Golden House was a big letdown. The cultural criticism it offered through the characters was no better than something one might find on the Huffington Post or worse yet, Salon - not what I would expect from such an acclaimed author. Isn't an author of that caliber supposed to rise above the cultural din and offer a more balanced, objective perspective on the characters, the trends they follow, the people they love and the times they live in? The character development was mostly flat and there was a fair share of celebrity name-dropping, obscure film references that didn't seem pertinent and the storyline could have come from an American soap opera. I don't get it. Another reveiwer said they felt that Rushdie "dialed this in" and it does kind of seem that way. I'm going to give Satanic Verses a shot next and compare notes.

Pronunciation problem

The reader pronounce Houston Street as if it were a City in Texas not a street in NYC. It was annoying.

Glorious

It was so good that I'm about to start it again from the beginning. Best parts are the thoughts on Trump, truth & what has become of our country and the world after this clown was elected.