The Golden House: a novel - Softcover

Rushdie, Salman

Softcover

ISBN 10: 178733015X ISBN 13: 9781787330153

Publisher: Jonathan Cape, 2017

Synopsis

**New York Times bestseller**
A Guardian / Observer Book of the Year

When powerful real-estate tycoon Nero Golden immigrates to the States under mysterious circumstances, he and his three adult children assume new identities, taking 'Roman' names, and move into a grand mansion in downtown Manhattan. Arriving shortly after the inauguration of Barack Obama, he and his sons, each extraordinary in his own right, quickly establish themselves at the apex of New York society.

The story of the Golden family is told from the point of view of their Manhattanite neighbour and confidant, René, an aspiring filmmaker who finds in the Goldens the perfect subject. René chronicles the undoing of the house of Golden: the high life of money, of art and fashion, a sibling quarrel, an unexpected metamorphosis, the arrival of a beautiful woman, betrayal and murder, and far away, in their abandoned homeland, some decent intelligence work.

Invoking literature, pop culture, and the cinema, Rushdie spins the story of the American zeitgeist over the last eight years, hitting every beat: the rise of the birther movement, the Tea Party, Gamergate and identity politics; the backlash against political correctness; the ascendency of the superhero movie, and, of course, the insurgence of a ruthlessly ambitious, narcissistic, media-savvy villain wearing make-up and with coloured hair.

In a new world order of alternative truths, Salman Rushdie has written the ultimate novel about identity, truth, terror and lies. A brilliant, heartbreaking realist novel that is not only uncannily prescient but shows one of the world’s greatest storytellers working at the height of his powers.

About this title

Review

"It’s one of the most vivid and convincing portraits of contemporary America I’ve read." (Alex Preston Observer, Book of the Year)

"[A] complex and witty fable ... Rushdie has always been an impish myth-manipulator, refusing to accept, as in this novel, that the lives of the emperors can’t be blended with film noir, popular culture and crime caper. On the evidence of The Golden House, he is quite right." (Alex Clark Observer)

"Unruly but exuberant... Much of the success of The Golden House, in fact, lies in its humour and in the vigour of its storytelling... There is a glowing energy to the prose that makes this Rushdie’s most enjoyable, mischievous and American of novels." (Arifa Akbar Financial Times)

"Intelligent and darkly funny...with a raw political edge." (Robert Douglas-Fairhurst The Times)

"Rushdie writes with a Dickensian exuberance, always full of humour as well as striking scornful, tragic notes. Often he plays the role of satirist. His caricatures and outsize figures are full of life, wickedness and human energy: again, as in Dickens, grounded in a precise social and political scene." (Jereme Boyd Maunsell Evening Standard)

"Rushdie’s fable is a sprightly portrait of American life from Obama’s election to the rise of Trump." (Anthony Gardner Mail on Sunday)

"Where Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities sent up the go-go, me-me Reagan/Bush era, Rushdie’s latest novel captures the existential uncertainties of the anxious Obama years... 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))

"A ravishingly well-told, deeply knowledgeable, magnificently insightful, and righteously outraged epic which pos­es timeless questions about the human condition... As Rushdie’s blazing tale surges toward its crescendo, life, as it always has, rises stubbornly from the ashes, as does love." (Booklist)

"Salman Rushdie is a writer of illimitable imagination and verbal ingenuity. He grips us with wild storylines, takes us on flights of fancy, brings us back down again, enthralled and dazed... The terrorist attacks by Islamicists, the unplanned developments, the bribery and corruption and multiple tragedies are gritty, real and moving. Extreme scenes are written so beautifully I don’t think I will ever forget them... The Golden House is an extraordinary book, a brooding meditation on the personal and political, on ethics, egotism, freedom and interdependence." (Yasmin Alibhai-Brown i)

"This is a compelling thriller with a pinch of fantasy, populated by larger-than-life characters... This powerfully cinematic novel, enriched by references to literature, popular culture and film, is dense, detailed and rewarding, displaying one of our leading novelists at the top of his game." (Vanessa Berridge Sunday Express)

Book Description

**New York Times bestseller**
A Guardian / Observer Book of the Year

One of the truly great writers of the century at the top of his game in this uncannily timely knockout of a novel.

About this edition

• Publisher: Jonathan Cape
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 178733015X
• ISBN 13: 9781787330153
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384