Gold Diggers by Sanjena Sathian

A floundering second-generation teenager growing up in the Bush-era Atlanta suburbs, Neil Narayan is authentic, witty, and smart. He just doesn’t share the same drive as everyone around him. His perfect older sister is headed to Duke. His parents’ expectations for him are just as high. He tries to want this version of success, but mostly, Neil just wants his neighbour across the cul-de-sac, Anita Dayal.

But Anita has a secret: she and her mother, Anjali, have been brewing an ancient alchemical potion from stolen gold that harnesses the ambition of the jewelry’s original owner. Anjali’s own mother in Bombay didn’t waste the precious potion on her daughter, favouring her sons instead. Anita, on the other hand, just needs a little boost to get into Harvard. But when Neil - who needs a whole lot more - joins in the plot, events spiral into a tragedy that rips their community apart.

Ten years later, Neil is an oft-stones Berkeley history grad student studying the California gold rush. His high school cohort has migrated to Silicon Valley, where he reunites with Anita and resurrects their old habit of gold theft - only now, the stakes are higher. Anita’s mother is in trouble, and only gold can save her. Anita and Neil must pull off one last heist.

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This book is absolutely nothing like what I expected, and I think I liked it all the more because of that fact. This book focuses on what is the “American Dream” and what a community must do in order to achieve this “perfect” American life. We read from the point of view of a child of immigrants who lives in a community of immigrants all desperately striving to achieve this American Dream and sometimes tearing down each other in the process to reach it. Neil, our main character, feels pressure every day of his life to make his parents sacrifices worth something, something many of his peers feel as well: to do well academically and socially and get into those Ivy League halls. It’s a pressure that could lead Neil to the point of breaking… until he finds the wonderful art of Alchemy and uses this magic to become something better or so he believes… I really enjoyed the narrative of this book. It was such a unique take on magical realism and blended contemporary and fantasy together so seamlessly that it almost felt like it could be real.

We start the story from Anjali’s point of view, during the prologue, of a small moment of her life back in Bombay where she watches in curiosity as her mother brews up a special golden concoction to help her brother achieve his academic goals. Flash forward to present-day (early 2000’s for this novel) and we stick with Neil’s point of view for the remainder of the story. Starting off with Neil’s years in middle school/high school where he struggles to live up to his parents expectations. He’s smart but not a genius, he doesn’t mind school but he doesn’t try very hard, he attends extra-curricular’s but would rather be elsewhere, and always, in the back of his mind, he knows this attitude and behaviour won’t get him to where his parents want him to be. He’s also half in love with his neighbour/childhood friend Anita who is moving up in the world without him. One day, he stumbles upon Anita’s secret way of achieving her biggest dreams: liquid gold, an alchemical potion to steal others ambition. From there his life spirals into the unusual and the dangerous until tragedy occurs. Flash forward again ten years later to Neil still floating off of others’ success when a once in a lifetime opportunity comes along to revisit his old gold smuggling ways and better himself for good.

This entire book revolves around the question of identity and belonging. One of the main themes is “what is it to be Indian in America?”. And throughout the book, Neil struggles to find the correct answer to that question, philosophically and literally, not truly understanding that there are endless ways to be Indian in America, no way is truly correct. It was a way more philosophical and historical based read than I was expecting but I found it very interesting. Tying in themes of the California Gold Rush into the history of alchemy and the history of immigrants to America was the most fascinating aspect of the book, it has me wanting to do a thesis on this and I’m not even a grad student!

Neil was a very easy character to love and relate to, his character is that nagging voice in the back of your head always wondering “what if?”. Anita, on the other hand, was very hard to get on board with. I loved her characterization even though I hated her character. She’s one of those selfish people that truly believes they’re doing good when really, every action taken is to their own benefit. Neil being blinded to her faults was as frustrating as it was understandable. When you love someone, you tend to look past their faults.

The heist aspect of this story was what originally drew me in and the magical realism was like a fun bonus…. unfortunately that’s a very small chunk of what this book is actually about. I really enjoyed what this story ended up being and it was an interesting insight into what life must be like having to live up to impossible standards and try to amalgamate into the American Dream that doesn’t really even exist. However, I was a bit disappointed with the lack of action. It was a lot slower moving story than I expected and because of that, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I’d hoped. It was still a phenomenal story, just not what I was in the mood for at the time.

I gave this one 3 stars. Great story, I think it’s a great summer read especially if magical realism is your thing. Just make sure you go in expecting more of a story of identity and belonging and less of an action-packed heist and you’ll be fine! I’m excited to see read from Sathian, she has a way of spinning words into beautiful stories.