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    The Golden Son: A Novel
    The Golden Son: A Novel
    The Golden Son: A Novel
    Audiobook14 hours

    The Golden Son: A Novel

    Written by Shilpi Somaya Gowda

    Narrated by Sunil Malhotra

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    The New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of Secret Daughter returns with an unforgettable story of family, responsibility, love, honor, tradition, and identity, in which two childhood friends—a young doctor and a newly married bride—must balance the expectations of their culture and their families with the desires of their own hearts.

    The first of his family to go to college, Anil Patel, the golden son, carries the weight of tradition and his family’s expectations when he leaves his tiny Indian village to begin a medical residency in Dallas, Texas, at one of the busiest and most competitive hospitals in America. When his father dies, Anil becomes the de facto head of the Patel household and inherits the mantle of arbiter for all of the village’s disputes. But he is uneasy with the custom, uncertain that he has the wisdom and courage demonstrated by his father and grandfather. His doubts are compounded by the difficulties he discovers in adjusting to a new culture and a new job, challenges that will shake his confidence in himself and his abilities.

    Back home in India, Anil’s closest childhood friend, Leena, struggles to adapt to her demanding new husband and relatives. Arranged by her parents, the marriage shatters Leena’s romantic hopes, and eventually forces her to make a desperate choice that will hold drastic repercussions for herself and her family. Though Anil and Leena struggle to come to terms with their identities thousands of miles apart, their lives eventually intersect once more—changing them both and the people they love forever.

    Tender and bittersweet, The Golden Son illuminates the ambivalence of people caught between past and present, tradition and modernity, duty and choice; the push and pull of living in two cultures, and the painful decisions we must make to find our true selves.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJan 26, 2016
    ISBN9780062444691
    Author

    Shilpi Somaya Gowda

    Shilpi Somaya Gowda was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. Her previous novels, Secret Daughter, The Golden Son, and The Shape of Family became international bestsellers, selling over two million copies worldwide, in over 30 languages. She holds degrees from Stanford University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a Morehead-Cain scholar. She lives in California with her husband and children.

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    Reviews for The Golden Son

    4.5/5

    46 ratings28 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Five stunning, incredible stars. This book goes on my Best of All Time list, no question. These characters will stay with me for a long, long time. I don’t want to leave Anil’s world. Highly recommend this book to just about anyone. A beautiful, moving, heart-wrenching story.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Thank you to LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program for this book. I read the author's previous novel, Secret Daughter, which I loved and has stuck in my mind, so I was very pleased to receive this one. This story about Anil, the oldest son of a traditional Indian family who goes to America to study medicine. His character is developed beautifully from the beginning so that as the reader, I really felt his struggle between following his own competitive spirit and following family tradition. I loved him from the very first chapters with his father. The other main character, Leena, is equally complex. Her struggles broke my heart. I don't want to give away details, but I believe that anyone who enjoys fiction based on other cultures and traditions will enjoy this story immensely.I look forward to whatever this author does next.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Fabulous book worth listening to. Lost a star because the Australian accent is atrocious.
    • 5/5
      "The Golden Son," by Shilpi Somaya Gowda deals with the issue of how much one owes his/her family and culture and how much one owes himself/herself. Anil leaves India to go to America to finish his training to become a doctor in th USA. But he is pulled back and forth between his new life in the USA and his old life and family in India. Leena is a woman who Anil has known since childhood. She has no desire to live anywhere but India. Her life becomes unbearable when she is trapped in a bad, arranged marriage. The stories of both characters are intertwined and compelling. All the characters in the novel are believable and one tends to strongly empathize with Anil and Leena. The ending is a bit unexpected, but believable. It does have a bit of a hurried feel to it, much like an epilogue rather than a complete finish. The story could continue for another 50 pages or more and be more satisfying. Still, this is a fine novel, well worth reading and would make a fine t.v. mini-series.
    • 4/5
      Anil, the golden son, is caught between two worlds, the old customs of his family in rural India and the new of urban America. The more time he spends at his internship in a Dallas hospital, the less he feels he belongs in either of these worlds. This is a story about family and finding your place. It’s also about loss, and Anil coming to terms with the scars of his own life that can never be fixed completely - just like Leena’s clay pots.Even though the focus of Golden Son is male, the book illuminates the life of rural South Asian women, where arranged marriages, dowry payments, and so called honour killings still exist. Despite the persistence of these customs, the women in this story show strength and resilience.
    • 5/5
      Great story and insight in to Indian culture even after coming to America.
    • 5/5
      Gowda has a way with family drama, as evidenced by her first book, Secret Daughter. Golden Son is the story of Anil, the oldest son of a wealthy Indian landowner. Anil's father encourages his "golden" boy to pursue a medical degree including a scholarship to advanced study in the US.
      Anil finds the US less a dream than a mixture of drudgery and nightmare. Although he finds love, he also finds racism and he struggles to compete in the cut throat environment of the major research hospital.
      When Anil's father dies, he is given the added burden of taking in his father's role of local arbitrator, settling village disagreements via long distance phone. His relationships with his brothers at home is strained. His childhood friend, Leena, meanwhile struggles in a violent marriage.
      The pressures of staying connected at home and yet competing abroad threaten Anil's future and his family life.
      Well-plotted, beautifully written without being overwrought, this is a great read.
    • 4/5
      Although it took a while to get started, I enjoyed this story of Anil and Leena, childhood friends who were destined to follow very different paths. I particularly liked the way in which the novel juxtaposed life in a small rural Indian community with life in a large American city and explored the conflict of the immigrant experience - pulled in both directions yet never fully belonging to either. I thought that Anil and Leena were both very well-rounded characters but that the pacing of the plot was the weakest part of the novel. Some parts seemed to drag while others, particularly the ending, felt rushed and undeveloped. Despite this, however, the characters and the story lingered, long after I had finished reading.
    • 4/5
      I learnt about many aspects and customs of India. The expectations are huge and respect for elders is admirable.
    • 4/5
      Anil's story - born in India, medical school in Texas, torn between his two cultures.
    • 4/5
      The Golden Son, Shilpi Somayo Gowda’s second novel, is an intriguing family saga that reminds the reader that families, no matter the diverse cultures in which they may be immersed, have more in common than not. All have hopes and aspirations for their children and themselves; it is the routes they take to achieve those goals that can be so very different. This is certainly the case for the Patel family of Panchanagar, India, the largest landowning family in their small village. As his father’s eldest son, Anil Patel is expected one day to assume the head-of-family role filled by his father and grandfather before him. But this is not the only reason that Anil is considered to be his family’s “golden son.” The young man is also one of the best students in his area school and he takes his academic work seriously, so seriously that his father encourages him to attend both college and medical school. But when Anil rather surprisingly wins a residency at one of the largest and most prestigious hospitals in Dallas, every member of the Patel family (his parents, his three brothers, and his sister) will feel the repercussions. Anil leaves behind everything, and everyone, familiar to him when he leaves India. He arrives in Dallas with only the clothes he can carry and arrangements to share an apartment with two fellow Indians when he gets there. And then, despite a slow start in which it is almost as difficult for him to master his new culture as it is to master his studies in the hospital program, Anil begins to thrive. He starts to shine at the hospital, he makes new friends, including his first serious girlfriend, and he begins to plan his future. But it is not going to be that simple.As the years go by, Anil realizes that he feels completely at home neither in India nor in the United States, and he wonders if he will feel that comfortable anywhere ever again. When called back to India upon the death of his father, Anil almost immediately assumes some of his father’s village responsibilities, but he doubts that he is truly capable of filling the role. But when he returns to Dallas and is forced to see himself as he believes Americans see him, he is no longer sure that he wants any part of the United States once his studies are complete. Gowda touches on issues in each country, but the most striking and revealing are those regarding the social and legal status of women in India. Women are still very much second-class citizens in India, and their lack of status costs thousands of them their lives every year at the hands of abusive husbands and vicious mothers-in-law. Gowda vividly illustrates this danger in the person of Leena, a childhood friend of Anil’s whose parents marry her into a family that is not what it appears to be. This subplot, in fact, is so intensely written and so disturbing that it at times threatens to take over the whole book.Bottom Line: The Golden Son is a hard one to put down, one of those books that can easily dominate a person’s free time until that last page is turned - and at just under 400 pages in length, it packs a surprise or two.
    • 5/5
      Having a group of close friends who do, I'm always interested in people from India coming to and going home from the US. One of the unique parts of this expat novel is the eldest son's role, by long distance, as the judge and arbitrator for his small Gujrat village. Anil takes over this role from his late father, whose life's goal was to send Anil to medical school in the US. Anil is totally exhausted by his residency at the largest hospital in Dallas and emotionally wrenched by his dual loyalties to both countries and to his US friends and his family in India. Violent events conspire to pull him closer to and further from to both homes. Anil's difficult life as a medical student, insecure and doubtful of his own skills, is fascinating, as is the miserable marriage entered into by his childhood friend Leena at home. Everyone learns, accepts, fights, changes, and grows. Villains are vanquished in satisfying ways. This is a well constructed, thought provoking novel that should be universally enjoyed by all readers.
    • 2/5
      The Golden Son did not grab me...I found the writing somewhat pedestrian. It has received excellent reviews as has Gowda's other book. Disappointed, and haven't written it off completely.
    • 4/5
      Anil Patel is the beloved eldest son in a family of five, living in a small rural village in India. As he matures, his father expects him to become a medical doctor and the leader and arbiter of disputes in the small village . Anil's father has been a leader in the community, though not a doctor. Anil gladly goes to college and chooses to finish his studying and training in a large hospital in Dallas, Texas. . Anil enjoys the freedom and opportunities of Texas, but also encounters cultural and racial challenges. He hopes to make a life in America, but when an error results in the death of a patient and racial issues destroy his relationship with his American girlfriend, Anil begins to question his choices.The other main protagonist, Leena, remains in the same small village that Anil left. Leena dreams of a happy marriage similar to what her parents enjoy. In time a marriage is arranged for Leena, and she leaves to live in a distant village with her new husband. The marriage is not at all what Leena had hoped for.Shilpi Somaya Gowda weaves two story arcs seamlessly. The reader is transported back from India to America many times. I found the story to be a page -turner, such was the suspense at times . At times the story is very disturbing , at other times somewhat humourous. The ending is quite unexpected. In summary, a most enjoyable read and well worth the time. Shilpi Somaya Gowda can tell a wonderful story, as she did in the very popular Secret Daughter. If you enjoyed Secret Daughter, you will also enjoy The Golden Son.4 stars for The Golden Son
    • 4/5
      “Golden Son” is Shilpi Somaya Gowda’s second novel; it follows her extremely successful 2011 debut novel, “Silent Daughter.” There are many fans eagerly awaiting its arrival; I’m confident they will be pleased. Gowda delivers a fascinating saga with realistic main characters, intelligent themes, and psychological complexity—in the end, I found this new fictional journey to be deeply affecting and emotionally satisfying. It should equal the success of her first novel in every way,“Golden Son” follows the story of two main characters as they develop and change over three decades. One is Anil, the eldest son of a prosperous rural Indian farmer; the other is Leena, the only child of a lower caste farmer from the same village. The two begin life as very close childhood friends; however, as they develop into adulthood their lives take starkly different paths. Anil becomes a medical doctor and travels to America to complete his residency in Dallas, Texas. There he must adapt to a whole new culture and learn to interact appropriately with modern American values and sexually experienced American women. Leena has a traditional marriage arranged for her by her parents. They only want the best for their daughter and are overjoyed when they find what they think is a prosperous farmer living in a village quite some distance from them. Leena’s parents are prepared to pay a substantial dowry if he agrees to marry her. They must keep the dowry a secret because the ancient tradition of a bride price has been criminalized in modern India. They borrow heavily to give their daughter a better life. Unfortunately, almost everything about the marriage is a sham. Leena ends up suffering considerable physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her husband and her new in-laws. There are so many things about her new family she does not understand. At first, she assumes that her troubles are her own fault. However, little-by-little, she pieces together the horrible history of her husband’s family before she came into their lives and why they needed to bring her into their family to resolve their problems. The two main characters come together as adults when Anil makes a few trips back to India to take care of family matters. It is during his stays in India that Anil becomes interested once again in Leena and aware that her marital situation may be abusive. Should he rescue Leena? Has he fallen in love with her? Can a culturally adapted Indian-American doctor find happiness with a traditional rural Indian wife? Will Anil’s mother be disappointed if he marries someone of whome she does not approve and someone that she didn’t pick for him? Will Anil return to India to practice medicine or continue to live in the United States? These are only some of the many questions I asked myself as I rushed to finish the novel and find out what would become of Anil and Leena. By the end of the book, I cared a great deal about both characters. I wanted the best for them. What happens is wonderful, but it is not at all what I expected. It’s one of those cases where the author takes her characters to a conclusion that most readers would never guess, but that all will be pleased with.This is a book about tradition, honor, duty, and love. It is a book about the Indian-American immigrant experience. It is a book about the changing culture of rural India. It is a book about being true to one’s values and identity. But at its heart, it is a book about the importance of family…and, indeed, what it takes to make a family in today’s complicated world. Gowda writes well-crafted, simple prose with abundant emotional depth. I rated her debut four stars, and I am doing the same to this second novel. Let me explain. My ratings for this author have been hybrids. That’s because Gowda’s books are hybrids. She writes prose that is somewhere squarely between popular fiction and literary fiction. She aspires to both. If I assessed her work only as popular fiction, then she’d get five stars; however, if I assessed her work as literary fiction, she’d get three stars. As a result, four stars seems a proper compromise. Her fans appear to want high-quality popular fiction and, with “Golden Son,” that is exactly what Gowda delivers.
    • 5/5
      Anil has known since he was a boy that he would be a doctor. His father had bigger plans for him than farming the fields of India, as has been his family's history for generations. Now Anil finds himself far from the only home he's ever known, serving his residency at a hospital in Texas. Rooming with two other young men from India, Anil settles into the complicated life of living as an American.Anil gets word that his father has died, and being the oldest son he is what is known as The Golden Son. He is expected to take on the role of village arbitrator now that his father is gone. This is complicated by the fact that Anil is so far from home, but he does his best to fulfill his duty.I enjoyed this story. It's a nice exploration of Indian culture, family dynamics and hospital politics. Anil and roommates Baldev and Mahesh become like brothers. They grow and mature together, navigating adulthood and dealing with the demands of their jobs and parents. After lives spent growing up somewhat sheltered, America has new dangers and temptations for each of these young men to handle.While following Anil, there is a side story going for Leena, childhood friend of Anil and his sister Piya. Leena finds herself in an arranged marriage that is less than happy, and later finds herself in a compromised position.There are a lot of very likable characters in this story. Anil is a man of great ethic and commitment. His roommates are likewise good men. His sister Piya is sweet and funny with a mind of her own. Leena is guarded, but charming and smart and dedicated.My final word: It's unfortunate that I wound up battling the flu while reading and reviewing this book. I'm suffering from brain fog, and feel that I just can't do this book justice. It's a light and easy read, full of likable characters, with enough conflict to hold your interest. It's a great introduction to India and Indian culture (although it seems that not everything portrayed in the book as part of common Indian culture may really be that, as the author did use some creative license). I found myself especially fond of Anil and Leena. I would not hesitate to recommend this book. I only wish I hadn't been too sick to really relax and enjoy this story fully.
    • 4/5
      Our lives are chock full of hopes and expectations. We face the expectations of our parents for us, those of our culture, and even our own expectations for ourselves. It can be hard work to live up to any or all of these sometimes contradictory expectations. Some people are crushed under the weight, some stop trying to achieve them at all, others struggle unhappily even as they reach those goals, while still others temper or alter expectations in order to create a happy and balanced life. This latter achievement can be quite difficult but it is the one that makes the most sense in the long run. In Shilpi Somaya Gowda's newest novel, The Golden Son, characters are trying very hard to stay true to what they know is expected of them, both from their family's perspectives and from a cultural perspective, but must, in the end, learn to adjust as situations and lives change.As the oldest son, Anil Patel should, by rights, inherit the family farm and his father's position as the local arbiter of disputes. But his father sees a different path for him, pushing him to attend college and become a doctor. And Anil has no trouble living up to this expectation. When he applies for a residency at a prestigious hospital in America and is offered a place, he knows that he is leaving the life of a rural farmer behind forever but he can't escape his role as heir to his father's reasoned and fair practice of arbitration. His struggles with adjusting to a very foreign life in Dallas, the pace and stress of his residency, and his own feelings of alienation from India and from America both, all combine to make for a tough adjustment for Anil. When his father dies and Anil has to take on the position of judge and jury that he feels so unsuited to perform, he stumbles under the weight of these inescapable expectations.Leena, Anil's old friend from home, the girl he grew up with and who he eventually had to give up spending time with because their friendship was considered unseemly, tries to fulfill her parents' and her culture's expectations for her. She agrees to an arranged marriage and goes into this relationship wanting very much to be a good wife, good sister-in-law, and good daughter-in-law. She does her best despite her new family's appalling treatment of her, wanting to not shame her parents or become a pariah in the community.Both Anil and Leena are shamed by their failures to live up to the standards they and outside forces have placed on them and it is only through deep soul searching, in Anil's case, and an almost tragedy in Leena's, for both of them to look at their lives and see the expectations placed on them for what they are. This is a novel of responsibility and identity. It is a tale of not belonging and of forging your own path toward happiness. It is, above all, a story of the weight of expectations and the problems that those expectations can create. Gowda writes in a simple and straightforward way even when she is presenting issues as complex as racism, spousal abuse, interracial dating, and medical mistakes. The details about Anil's residency and the fog he exists in during this time are well drawn and extensive. The brutal reality of Leena's life is hard to read but certainly an illuminating window into some Indian women's terrible existences, from which they have little to no hope of rescue. The ending is satisfying, if a bit speedy, and Gowda avoids the easy solution for her characters, choosing to stay true to their created personalities. Those who have an interest in India and the ties that continue to bind Indian immigrants to their country of origin will find this an appealing and easy read.
    • 4/5
      I quite enjoyed this book about a young Indian man pursuing a dream of becoming a doctor in America. His struggles between staying true to his family values and his desire to move forward with the times seemed very true. I loved the characters and their interactions. It was well written and I felt it could have been based on true families. A very easy and enjoyable read.
    • 4/5
      Interesting story of the favored son of a rural Indian family who comes to the United States to live and practice medicine. The contrasts and conflicts between his American life style and Indian traditions, his growing distance from the needs and traditions of his nuclear family and the difficult decisions that confront him make for a story filled with conflict and surprises. My only complaint about this book was the resolution. The author skipped forward at the point of resolution, changed directions fairly dramatically, imported a new character and did what amounted to an afterward to tell the reader that things worked out. I felt a bit cheated.
    • 5/5
      Five stunning, incredible stars. This book goes on my Best of All Time list, no question. These characters will stay with me for a long, long time. I don’t want to leave Anil’s world. Highly recommend this book to just about anyone. A beautiful, moving, heart-wrenching story.
    • 4/5
      I was provided with a free advance e-reader copy by HarperCollinsPublishers in exchange for an honest review.

      Jayant Patel, the current patriarch of Panchanagar's most respected family, lives with his large extended family in the Big House. Following centuries of tradition, Jayant proudly begins to train his eldest and most favored son to replace him. A patriarch is responsible for the family's farm operations, financial support, and perhaps most importantly arbitrator of disputes and dispenser of advice and wisdom. To have a son is golden.

      Beginning at a very young age, Anil follows his father through his daily routines. The two go out into the fields to hands-on learn to cultivate and harvest the crops. When he is old enough, Anil enters the local public school and quickly becomes the first in his class to read and learn his math tables. As he shows more and more prowess at education, the fewer farm duties he is expected to perform; his share of farm work shifted to his younger siblings.

      As oldest son, Anil had more privilege and free time as a young child and was permitted to develop a friendship with a tenant farmer's young daughter named Leena. The two children spent carefree hours enjoying the freedom of youth; not yet encumbered with time honored gender roles.

      When Anil was 10, Jayant witnessed the successful cleft palate repair of a local child. He was so awed by the child's transformation, he decided that his intelligent Anil should become a doctor and live a life beyond the village. Anil was encouraged in his studies to prepare himself for acceptance into medical college.

      Over time Anil and Leena drifted apart as they were unable to spend time together in play. Leena remained at home learning women's duties, preparing herself for an arranged marriage and family. Their friendship faded behind the curtain of cultural expectations.

      Anil's life looks to be full of hope and promise. Married life for Leena was loveless, harsh and cruel. The "good family" selected for Leena had a false front and she suffered terribly. In time Leena chose to face social disgrace and returned to live with her parents.

      Anil efforts were rewarded and he was accepted to medical college in Ahmadabad. It didn't take him

      long to comprehend how disadvantaged his previous education opportunities were compared to the other medical students. Socially isolated, the six years in Ahmadabad were spent studying to prove his competence and eligibility in this world outside the village.

      Emboldened by his personal educational success in India, Anil dreamed big. He applied for an internship in the United States and is granted a medical residency at a large metropolitan hospital in Dallas, Texas.

      Arriving in America confident yet apprehensive, Anil experiences culture shock and is quickly overwhelmed. Book smart but experience short, Anil makes a medical mistake that costs a patient his life. While struggling to learn his way in a modern fast paced setting, his father suddenly dies back in India leaving Anil stranded between two worlds.

      Returning to India without permission from the hospital, Anil has to confront the changes to his life back home. Spoiled as a child, he's not prepared to become patriarch. Having not completed his medical residency, he's not prepared as a doctor. The sudden death of his father has left the family in a precarious financial position and as the new family leader floundering around in the dark to find answers. He questions where he belongs.

      The reader is charmed by the love and strength of the Patel clan in Panchanagar and the support he receives in the Dallas hospital as Anil finds his way in diametrically opposite worlds.

      The ending isn't quite the cookie cutter finish you might predict but nonetheless very well crafted and satisfying.

      Recommended.
    • 4/5
      Book was interesting enough, I liked that the main characters struggled with their life choices. The end surprised me, which is always a good thing. I’m not sure why I didn’t give this 5 stars, I guess the Author was not able to create tension in the writing and that stopped it from being a page turner.
    • 5/5
      ARC, This is the story of Anil and Leena, childhood friends whose lives follow very different paths. Anil emigrates from his small town in India to a residency at an inner city Dallas hospital. Although he has two Indian roommates, his job is intense, and he makes mistakes. He's also under pressure to continue in his father's footsteps, as the local mediator - over the phone and makes mistakes there too. Leena follows the typical arranged marriage path in India, but her husband is abusive and she narrowly escapes with her life. But in India, it's forbidden to leave your husband for any reason - and her village disbelieves the abuse, shunning her family and with staggering debt, her father commits suicide. Leena finally finds a way to support herself and her mother, in molding clay pots, and Anil keeps trying to reconcile his American life, with the pull of his family to return to India. The ending was a bit trite - it may have been better for the author to leave the threads dangling a bit, so the reader could imagine their own ending.I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
    • 4/5
      Anil, the oldest son of a rural Indian family aspires to be a doctor. He does a medical residency in Dallas where he lives with two other Indians. We learn of the struggles of a med student and being Indian in America. We also travel with Anil back to India where he struggles with the needs of his family there after his father's death. Anil carries on the tradition of family arbiter. We also meet Anil's childhood friend Leena whose abusive marriage shows the dark side of the traditional marriage arrangement and dowery. Leena is a strong character who discovers her strength when she learns how to do pottery from clay in the fields behind her house. Her story and Anil's run into each other's beautifully through out this novel with an unexpected ending.
    • 4/5
      Anil and Leena, childhood friends growing up in India face two different paths in life. Anil moves to America to pursue his dream of being a doctor. He feels like he doesn’t belong there, but at the same time he feels that he no longer belongs in India either. There is an “undeniable push and pull between the land that had borne him and the one he had chosen.” “He was a dweller of two lands.” We follow his journey in America and his trips back to India and the inner turmoil he suffers.Meanwhile, Leena is married to a horrible man and suffers greatly. She endures some truly horrible things. Without spoiling anything, I was really rooting for these two to end up together in the end, but I won’t say if they do or not.I loved the colorful and vibrant setting in India. I sympathized with Anil’s struggles and I hoped for Leena to escape her horrible marriage. This was a great book!
    • 5/5
      I received an advance readers copy fro Library Thing and Harper Collins publisher in return for an honest review. The Golden Son is about tradition, culture,coming of age responsibility and perseverance. We meet Anil when he is at the sitting at the feet of his father who is the arbitrator of their village. Anil becomes a medical student in his country and wants to come to America to do his residency.Fast forward to Anal arriving Texas met at the airport by his new Indian roommate who will try to help him assimilate to to America but all the while never forgetting his Indian roots. Even in American Anil finds he is different and is judged on the color of his skin just like in India you are judge but your religion and caste. In the novel Anil will struggle to find out what it means to be the Golden son.The Golden Son is an excellent read! Shilpi Somya Gowda has done it again.
    • 5/5
      I was delighted to have the opportunity to read an advance copy of The Golden Son as I had read and enjoyed the author's previous book, The Secret Daughter. I liked her new book even more. The book covered many topics from an Indian doctor's immigrant experience in the U.S. to various aspects of life in rural India. There was the experience of a romantic relationship between the doctor and a white woman and its terrible consequences, as well as his professional ordeals such as making fatal mistakes and competition with other doctors. He had to deal with his father's death and was expected to assume some of his father's responsibilities back in India while still in the U.S. In the meantime, we learned about the rest of his family and friends and their experiences back in India. His childhood friend is married off into an abusive family, and we see the repercussions to her, her family and the community. One could see how difficult it would be to know which world one belongs in under these circumstances. There were many ethical issues which would make for great book discussion topics. I would highly recommend this book.
    • 4/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed Gowda's previous book, The Secret Daughter, and was pleased to get a copy of her new book as an early reviewer. This book, like the previous one, tells the story of someone born in India who emigrates to North America and has to deal with all the cultural differences between their new and old lives. While I enjoyed reading the book, I felt that it was very predictable. So I was particularly pleased that the ending was so much different than I had anticipated. I thought the book was greatly enhanced by this.