Amy P. Knight

The Golden House by Salman Rushdie

And here we have Rushdie doing what Rushdie does. There is a grand-scale plot that fits neatly in the pages–it starts at the beginning and ends at the end–and too many tangential thematic elements. Here, it’s the story of the Golden family, or so they call themselves, their attempt to leave behind a previous life and their ultimate demise (3 sons and a patriarch) as observed, and interfered with, by their young filmmaker neighbor. There are Rushdie’s characteristic riffs on film, current politics, the Romans, and gender politics–perhaps too heavy a load for this narrative to carry. But it’s Rushdie–to be expected.