Summary

The Golden House is told by a first-person, retrospective narrator named René. René begins his narration “on the day of the new president’s [that is, Obama’s] inauguration,” when “an uncrowned seventy-something king” arrives in New York City, moving into a neighbourhood calls The Gardens (3). René reveals this unnamed king to be Nero Golden, who is incredibly rich, has three sons, and no wife. When asked about his past, Nero vows to say that he and his family “are snakes who shed [their] skin,” making it clear that he will not divulge their past (8). René says this invention of identity “tells us much about America itself” (11). René describes Nero’s three sons as “Caesars” and “gods” (17). René then reveals that Nero’s wife was shot in a terrorist attack in Bombay, India; in America, Nero tells his sons to choose their...