True to form, Salman Rushdie's latest offering keeps you guessing.
THE GOLDEN HOUSE
Salman Rushdie
Penguin Random House NZ
By ROB KIDD
When real-estate heavyweight Nero Golden flees his homeland with his three sons and lands in a mega-mansion in an exclusive New York neighbourhood, the community is intrigued.
Their murky pasts are gradually revealed to the reader as each character begins the process of reinventing themselves in their new homeland, progressions that are helped and hindered in equal measure by the introduction of love interests, who both define and unhinge the men.
Nero is joined in Manhattan by his sons, Petya (autistic, agoraphobic gaming savant), Apu (gifted artist and ladies' man) and D (suffering an identity crisis).
Each of them is carefully crafted and nuanced; all talented, all fatally flawed.
The story is told through the eyes of Rene, another resident in the salubrious "Gardens'' community. As an aspiring filmmaker, he sees the Golden family as his ready-made epic.
He quickly ingratiates himself with the group, but his role as a voyeur is transformed when becomes a player in his own narrative.
Some of the most mesmerising passages of the novel are written almost as a movie script, with editing directions inserted.
The budding art-house film director sees the characters' defects as intriguing and homes in on the mysterious patriarch Nero. However, the reader is left wondering with this unreliable narrator just how honest his view may be.
On the announcement of this latest offering by Rushdie, much was made of its political backdrop.
The story begins at the outset of the Obama administration but the tone changes as Donald Trump's star rises.
Rushdie not so subtly portrays him as Batman's arch-nemesis The Joker, complete with green hair and blood-red lips. It is one of a plethora of pop-culture references, including rapper Tupac and Candy Crush Saga.
More prevalent, however, and infinitely more frustrating, are the literary, classical citations.
In patches it feels as though The Golden House needs hyperlinks so you can fully consider the Slavic myth or obscure French film Rushdie has referenced.
I know it is art but it feels prohibitive at times.
It is strange then that the plot retains its magnetism.
One thing Rushdie does brilliantly is balancing what he says with what he does not.
In the most exhilarating scenes, instead of drowning the characters in dialogue, he frees them of it and leaves the reader to fill in the gaps. It is risky but it works.
But what does it all mean?
The inescapability of one's past? The decline into hellfire of this modern world? The beauty and simultaneous fallibility of mankind?
Your guess is as good as mine.
Rob Kidd is an ODT crime reporter.
Win a copy
The ODT has five copies of The Golden House, by Salman Rushdie, to give away courtesy of Penguin Random House NZ. For your chance to win a copy, email playtime@odt.co.nz with your name and postal address in the body of the email and ‘‘Golden House’’ in the subject line, by 5pm on Tuesday, October 17.
LAST WEEK’S WINNERS
Winners of last week’s giveaway, Anna, by Niccolo Ammaniti, courtesy of Text Publishing: Claire Walkinshaw, of Cromwell, Beverley Rivett, of Mosgiel, Gail Arthur, of Waldronville, Alexa Craig, of Balclutha, and Wendy Chik, of Wakari.
