The Golden House

A Novel

By: Salman Rushdie

Narrated by: Vikas Adam

Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2017 Salman Rushdie (P)2017 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“[A] modern masterpiece . . . telling a story full of wonder and leaving you marveling at how it ever came out of the author’s head.”—Associated Press

“Wildly satiric and yet piercingly real . . . If F. Scott Fitzgerald, Homer, Euripides, and Shakespeare collaborated on a contemporary fall-of-an-empire epic set in New York City, the result would be The Golden House.”—Poets & Writers

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

Top Notch

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

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.

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.

Struggled to finish, but no regrets (barely)

Definitely not his best, but maybe not his worst. More than a couple of subjects of the book was of no interest to me, so if it hadn't been an audiobook, I'm guessing I wouldn't even have made it far enough to hit the biggest challenge that this book offered: a narrator doing Russian accents! It was unbearable and I almost gave up many, many times on that account. He did a good job at it, but I have a fatally low acceptance for fake easteuropean accents, I'd wish they had done without that artistry. I wonder if the narrator was instructed to do so, or made that horrible decision on his own. Being a European, but very international person, I loved all the American politics very beautifully interwoven contemporary criticisms, that in the beginning took some time to be certain, that talking about the joker taking over Gotham from batman most definitely was all about Trump not winning the election but still stealing the white house. Frustrations to big to express without various and intelligent allegories that I love to say I share with this one of my favorite authors.
My frustration reading/listening to this book ranged many times between giving up on finishing the book because I didn't like it at all, to believing that this massive experience would only get better if you reread it, and maybe it did deserve to be reread
And... While writing this review I suddenly realize that a more subtle allegory than the joker/Trump might be Nero Goldens marriage to the Russian babba-yaga being about selling out to putin...? Oh boy... I struggled sooo hard to be done with this book, but I guess it seems that it kinda payed of, because there is more to it than meets the ear, and a reread seems unavoidable. I hope you enjoy reading this review as much as I did writing it, and I processed my experience doing so. I highly recommend reading/listening to the book as well as reviewing it afterwards.

Tremendous Saga

Epic tale of 2017 politics and culture set in NYC with many interesting examinations of topical news items.

Excellent production and story

Loved the book and the production. The superb narration enriched the story and made the characters come alive.

Great story and performance

The story is an entertaining and thought provoking blend of fiction and cultural observations. Vikas Adam delivers a exceptional performance worthy of a great story.