A brilliant Indian-American magical realist coming of age story and the debut of a major talent
Spanning two continents two coasts and four epochs Gold Diggers expertly balances social
satire and magical realism in a classic striver story that skewers the model minority narrative
asking what a community must do to achieve the American dream. In razor sharp and deeply funny
prose Sathian perfectly captures what it is to grow up as a member of a family of a diaspora
and of the American meritocracy. This blockbuster novel both entertains and levels a critique
of what Americans of color must do to make their way. A floundering second-generation teenager
growing up in the Bush-era Atlanta suburbs Neil Narayan is authentic funny 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 neighbor 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 favoring 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-stoned 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. Gold Diggers
is a fine-grained profoundly intelligent and bitingly funny investigation in to questions of
identity and coming of age--that tears down American shibboleths.
