A deeply affecting debut novel set in Trinidad, following the lives of a family as they navigate impossible choices about scarcity, loyalty, and loveWINNER OF THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE • “Golden Child is a stunning novel written with force and beauty. Though true to herself, Adam’s work stands tall beside icons of her tradition like V.S. Naipaul.”—Jennifer Clement, author of Gun LoveRural … author of Gun Love
Rural Trinidad: a brick house on stilts surrounded by bush; a family, quietly surviving, just trying to live a decent life. Clyde, the father, works long, exhausting shifts at the petroleum plant in southern Trinidad; Joy, his wife, looks after the home. Their two sons, thirteen years old, wake early every morning to travel to the capital, Port of Spain, for school. They are twins but nothing alike: Paul has always been considered odd, while Peter is widely believed to be a genius, destined for greatness.
When Paul goes walking in the bush one afternoon and doesn’t come home, Clyde is forced to go looking for him, this child who has caused him endless trouble already, and who he has never really understood. And as the hours turn to days, and Clyde begins to understand Paul’s fate, his world shatters—leaving him faced with a decision no parent should ever have to make.
Like the Trinidadian landscape itself, Golden Child is both beautiful and unsettling, a resoundingly human story of aspiration, betrayal, and love.
Praise for Golden Child
“In fluid and uncluttered prose, Golden Child weaves an enveloping portrait of an insular social order in which the claustrophobic support of family and neighbors coexists with an omnipresent threat from the same corners.”—The New York Times Book Review
“[A] powerful debut . . . a devastating family portrait—and a fascinating window into Trinidadian society.”—People
“[An] emotionally potent debut novel . . . with a spare, evocative style, Adam (a Trinidad native) evokes the island’s complexity during the mid-’80s, when the novel is mostly set: the tenuous relationship between Hindus like Clyde’s family and the twins’ Catholic schoolmaster, assassinations and abductions hyped by lurid media headlines, resources that attract carpetbagging oil companies but leave the country largely impoverished.”—USA Today
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I normally only write reviews on books that I REALLY love or REALLY hate. This one tears me up though.This is a 5 star book with content that is so difficult for me that I am tempted to rate it lower just because of all the emotions this book drudged up in me. I can’t imagine making that decision and I can’t support the decision that was made… but I also can’t get this book out of my head.
This is a fantastic book. My reaction is visceral and real, which means it is doing what literature should.
I loved this book written about family in Trinidad. There is a moral question in this book. Beautifully written
I have to say I appreciate this book, rather than like it. The writing is wonderful and it flows easily, but the story matter is maybe to realistic for me. It is reminiscent of Steinbeck’s The Pearl in that it is about a very poor family that is trying to lift itself above the poverty level with hard work and integrity. The parents are trying to foster a sense of worthiness, ambition and moral accountability to their two boys. But tragedy ensues and in the end they become victims of the greed and corruption that permeates their culture and community. I neither recommend or discourage the reader from this novel – this is one each must decide for themselves.
This was one of the best books I’ve read on Netgalley in the 15 months I have been reviewing for them. Wow! What a story! I kept thinking about it for days after I’d finished reading it. Clyde, his wife Joy, and their twin sons Peter and Paul live in rural Trinidad. Clyde has a good job and Joy works hard to take care of her home and family. Peter and Paul are very different from each other. Peter is very bright and successful at whatever he attempts to do. Paul is different from Peter and while they are close, Paul walks to the beat of a totally different drummer. His whole life he has been told that he is the retarded twin and Peter helps him out whenever he can. They begin attending a private school in another town, involving a long commute, and while Peter excels, Paul gets extra tutoring from one of the priests, Father Kavanaugh, who becomes a mentor and ally for Paul. One night, shortly after their home is broken into and robbed, Paul disappears. The family is beside itself with fear and worry. Clyde begins searching for his son, angry and annoyed that he has wandered off again. The conclusion left me with my mouth agape.
This is a very well written book which is sad, amusing, shocking and thought provoking. Very strongly recommend, particularly for Book Clubs.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for a review copy. This is my honest opinion.
This book broke my heart, truly.
I really enjoyed this book despite its sadness. Set in Trinidad amidst corruption and much greed, a good family lives a modest life. Clyde and Joy are wholesome, loving parents trying to raise their twin boys, with a clear understanding of the importance of education. Filled with the vernacular of the island, Adam introduced me to that land and its people–and the lawlessness that pervades its society.
Mostly a story about family–the good and the bad–and the importance of good values, this compelling narrative gripped me to the very end.
A well-written book with a moral dilemma–I pondered what I would have done and found no answer.
Golden Child tells the story of an extended Indian family struggling to get along with each other while living in rural Trinidad. The story told in three parts intertwines past, present, and future and will capture your heart and mind making the book impossible to put down. The joy and sorrow of extended family dynamics and the twin’s relationships with family members will give you pause. A heartfelt and disturbing story of a family living in poverty and wealth and how jealousy and betrayal can tear those who love each other apart.
Golden Child is a stunning novel written with force and beauty. Though true to herself, Adam’s work stands tall beside icons of her tradition like V.S. Naipaul.
Utterly convincing, horrifying and, ultimately, intensely moving, it’s almost impossible to believe this small masterpiece is a first novel. Adam is a true and rare talent. I’m in awe.
The characters in Golden Child are so completely real that I keep forgetting that their home is the page; they seem to breathe and think on their own. This is a devastating, wonderful book, and I can’t help but wait impatiently for whatever Claire Adam writes next.
This was an interesting read for me. Set in Trinidad, Golden Child follows the lives of twin brothers and their parents. It starts in present day, from the father’s third person perspective, when one of the twins doesn’t come home in the evening. When the father, Clyde, embarks on the search his stream of memories transports readers back to the birth of the twins following their journey back to the point we started. The twins, one intellectually gifted and the other struggling with “normalcy”, cause much chaos within the family dynamics and from there sprouts a story of a family with a winding, poor, and long road of tough times and an abundance of issues in their small chunk of Trinidad. We get perspectives from a motley cast of characters that makes up the extended family.
The writing of Claire Adam is forthcoming and descriptive. Her storytelling structure and narration kept me engaged and intrigued in this plot of love, loyalty, betrayal, and honesty. At some points the descriptions of the socioeconomic climate of Trinidad become overly detailed causing a bit of a loss of focus for me. The humanity showcased in this book is what really kept me interested. The tough decisions made that led to powerful emotions, mistakes, and lessons learned were a beautiful lesson from a place that I don’t know a lot about. I found myself researching the area, looking at maps, etc. to garner more understanding which is the mark of a good book to me. If you like intriguing fiction stories with elements of life lived in the best way someone can live it and be empathic towards that life, Golden Child will be for you.
Lindas Book Obsession Review for “Golden Child” by Claire Adam Published by SJP for Hogarth, an imprint by Crown Publishing Group, January 29,2019
Claire Adam, Author of “Golden Child” has written an intense, heart-breaking, emotional, riveting, captivating, and suspenseful novel that takes place mostly in Trinidad. The Genres for this novel are Fiction, with a touch of Historical Fiction, and Suspense. Sarah Jessica Parker has chosen “The Golden Child” as one of her picks, as she likes “bringing stories from far away closer” The author describes her characters as complex and complicated, perhaps due to the circumstances.
The author vividly describes both the poor and rich sides of Trinidad. Symbolically there are elements of good and evil, and jealousy and betrayal that is devastating. In Rural Trinidad, Clyde, and his wife Joy live a simple life. They live near the bush, and often go without water. The happiness in their life is when they have twin sons. Peter and Paul are born, and their family surrounds and helps them. Peter seems to be the “good” baby and Paul is “fussy” and has more problems. As they grow up, Peter is extremely smart and called a genius. Paul has a knack for getting into trouble, and causing his parents to worry on more than one occasion. Joy wants both boys kept together in school so Peter can keep an eye out for Paul.
Paul goes walking in the bush one day and never returns. The family is devastated. Clyde is given news that crushes him. Clyde has to make sacrifices and choices. No father should ever be presented with such decisions. I would highly recommend this novel for those readers who enjoy an intense, and emotional story.
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