Gold Diggers

A Novel

By: Sanjena Sathian

Narrated by: Rama Vallury

One of The Washington Post's 10 Best Books of 2021 * One of NPR's Best Books of 2021 * New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice * Long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize

“Dizzyingly original, fiercely funny, deeply wise.” —Celeste Ng, #1 bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere

“Sanjena Sathian’s Gold Diggers is a work of 24-karat genius.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post

How far would you go for a piece of the American dream?

A magical realist coming-of-age story, Gold Diggers skewers the model minority myth to tell a hilarious and moving story about immigrant identity, community, and the underside of ambition.

A floundering second-generation teenager growing up in the Bush-era Atlanta suburbs, Neil Narayan is funny and smart but struggles to bear the weight of expectations of his family and their Asian American enclave. He tries to want their version of success, but mostly, Neil just wants his neighbor across the cul-de-sac, Anita Dayal.

When he discovers that Anita is the beneficiary of an ancient, alchemical potion made from stolen gold—a “lemonade” that harnesses the ambition of the gold’s original owner—Neil sees his chance to get ahead. But events spiral into a tragedy that rips their community apart. Years later in the Bay Area, Neil still bristles against his community's expectations—and finds he might need one more hit of that lemonade, no matter the cost.

Sanjena Sathian’s astonishing debut offers a fine-grained, profoundly intelligent, and bitingly funny investigation into what's required to make it in America.

Soon to be a series produced by Mindy Kaling!

Riveting story!

Intriguing insight into Indian-American culture and history through an engaging story line and excellent character development. The ending was a bit drawn out but, overall, a great read. I started reading the actual book then finished via Audible. The performance was good!

Magic realism a realist can enjoy.

I would describe the style of this book as somewhere between Donna Tartt and Kevin Kwan. I enjoyed it a lot. The narrator was excellent.

Not your typical coming-of-age tale!

Loved "Gold Diggers"! Being an immigrant and a parent to the second generation American in Atlanta Metro area certainly added more flavor and dimension to this story for me personally. Genre is hard to define, a bit of Bulgakov, a bit of Gogol, definitely not your typical coming-of-age piece. I look forward to reading more of Sanjena Sathian's books in the future! Was glad to hear that Mindy Kaling will be working on TV adaptation of this book!

still trying to figure it out

very well written but not clear on the point. if the characters looked at their own results, they would have given up on their little plan

I did not expect to enjoy it!

I’m not a fan of the supernatural genre. So, I had to suspend my misgivings when I started to read the book. What I appreciate most is the universality of the themes— the angst and awkwardness of growing up and wanting to fit in, the immigrant stories, the tug-of-war between cultural traditions and embracing your new environment and finding a way to make it work, the gift of generations and family stories, of friendships in unlikely places, and many more. I enjoyed the layers. It made for a more interesting read!