Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Press for the Reader's Copy!

Now available.

What motivates you? Eleven year old Neil Narayan struggles to answer this question as he navigates life in suburban Georgia. Straddled by his older, successful sister Prachi who dreams of becoming Ms. Teen India and the worries of his mother, "american-pherican," Neil looks to find himself among the white and Indian world of Harcourt County. When he discovers that his next door neighbor Anita Dayal has a surefire way of obtaining ambition, he jumps onboard. The adventures the two get into will leave your head spinning, and wishing for a little taste of the golden lemonade yourself.

What works about this story is the strong magical realism element and the author's poetic language. The concept of drinking liquid gold to steal other people's ambitions is very interesting and the author presents a very cool history of the gold trade in India and the US. What would have worked better for me as a reader is if the story had ended with adolescent Neil. The later half of the book focuses on adult Neil dealing with the very real repercussions of his adolescent actions, such as struggling with addiction, depression and commitment issues. The ending seems a little bit too happy in my opinion.