The Golden Son
Shilpi Somaya Gowada, 2016
HarperCollins
408 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062391452
Summary
An unforgettable story of love, honor, tradition, and identity.
The first of his family to go to college, Anil Patel, the golden son, leaves his tiny Indian village to begin a medical residency at one of the best hospitals in America.
When his father dies, Anil becomes the head of the Patel household and inherits the mantle of arbiter for all of the village’s disputes. But he is uncertain that he has the wisdom and courage required to take on the role.
Back home in India, Anil’s childhood friend, Leena, struggles to adapt to her demanding new husband. Arranged by her parents, the marriage shatters Leena’s romantic hopes, and forces her to make choices that will hold drastic repercussions for her family.
Tender and bittersweet, The Golden Son illuminates the decisions we must make to find our true selves. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—December 9, 1970
• Where—Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Education—B.A., University of North Carolina; M.B.A, Stanford University
• Currently—lives in San Francisco, California, USA
Shilpi Somaya Gowada is a Canadian novelist and author of two novels—The Secret Daughter, published in 2010, and The Golden Son, in 2016. Gowada was raised in Toronto by parents who had emigrated from Mumbai, India. She received her BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received an MBA from Stanford University.
She has worked as a business strategist, at one point as a vice president for an internet company, and now operates her own consulting firm. Gowada lives in San Francisco, California, with her husband and children.
Her First novel,
(Adapted from Canadian Encyclopedia.)
Book Reviews
The Golden Son triumphs because of its many pleasures and complications: romantic intrigues, family vendettas, unexpected tragedies and criminal secrets harbored by characters in both India and America. This satisfying immersion in two complicated cultures offers no easy resolutions.
Washington Post
Gowda can write up moments that break your heart... The Golden Son combines the immigrant novel with a fascination for the insecure and dependent lives of rural women in India. The book does not finish with the most predictable ending, but a version of happily ever after does take place. And yes, it evoked a few tears, too.
Toronto Globe and Mail
Gowda has the writerly chops when it comes to pace and plot.... The novel’s denouement manages to subvert expectations, while still fulfilling the fable’s responsibility to convey a useful, resonant truth.
Toronto Star
Gowda is a gifted storyteller, bringing together various related story strands into a fully integrated whole.
Vancouver Sun
The Golden Son successfully achieves the virtually impossible: it is every bit as good and strong as...Secret Daughter.... Both tell compelling stories that make each book a page-turner and a fast read. Both are extremely well-written with riveting plots.... Gowda's characters are beautifully and subtly drawn.... It was five years in the making and well worth the wait.
Winnipeg Free Press
The large and small struggles that make up everyday life are woven into an international family saga in Gowada’s latest novel.... [The Golden Son] offers readers a vivid cultural immersion. Even if the outcome is somewhat predictable, and tied up a bit too neatly, the journey to get there is deeply pleasurable.
Publishers Weekly
Discussion Questions
1. The Golden Son deals with a myriad of issues, such as family, responsibility and acceptance. What do you think is the overall theme of this novel? What is the significance of the title?
2. Why didn’t one of Anil’s brothers take over as village arbiter when their father died?
3. After a very difficult first year of residency, Anil starts to make a connection with what he’s learning and the patients he’s treating:
Anil had not looked closely into his patients' eyes before, but now he found it impossible to look away.... [H]e saw bewilderment...and felt their silent trust like two ominous weights on his shoulders. Above all, he saw fear distilled to its purest form...he could never forget his patients were the fortunate ones—in a world-class hospital filled with doctors and equipment, not an isolated village hundreds of kilometers away from the nearest medical facility.... This is why he’d come to America.
How does this change Anil as a doctor?
4. Leena feels responsible for the strife she causes her family after fleeing her abusive marriage. How would you have behaved if you were the parent in that situation? How would your own parents have dealt with it? Can you go against your own culture for the sake of your children?
5. Were you surprised by people’s reactions to Leena after she flees Girish? What does this say about the place women hold in her society? Were you shocked when young Ritu revealed the truth about Girish’s first wife?
6. Leena finds a new vocation in her pottery. How does this endeavor bring her back to life, so to speak? How is the clay a metaphor for life?
7. What do you think was the turning point for Anil, when he finally stopped resisting his role within his family?
8. Do you think Anil’s decision to give the long-time farmhand a parcel of land was a wise one? Why or why not? What about his brother’s reaction?
9. Anil realizes that "Not only was it impossible to truly belong in America, but he didn’t fit in here (India) anymore either. He was a dweller of two lands, accepted by none." How did the attack on Baldev in Dallas contribute to Anil’s feeling like a man without a country? What led to his alienation in India?
10. What did Anil learn from his relationship with his American girlfriend, Amber? What role did Dr. Sonia Mehta play in his life?
11. Anil observes fellow resident Trey Crandall taking unauthorized meds from the drug trolley at the hospital and struggles with how to handle this information. What would you have done in his situation? Why do you think he’s reluctant to report Trey? Is it similar to the reason Baldev didn’t press charges against his attackers?
12. How is Anil different from his two roommates, Baldev and Mahesh? What do they share in common?
13. Leena tells Anil: "People may never respect me. I don’t expect it. I’ve survived this long. Damaged, but not broken." How have her "damage" and flaws given her strength?
14. What did you think of Anil’s suggestion of an arbitration council made up of his brothers? How does this set-up utilize their skills?
15. Why do you think Leena turned down Anil’s proposal of marriage and offer to bring her, her mother, Ritu and Dev to America?
16. Anil goes from being a foreigner in two lands to fully inhabiting his life in both India and America. What finally made this possible for him?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)