Has anyone out there read Vikram Seth’s 1986 narrative poem/novel ‘The Golden Gate’?
I’m thinking of writing a comparative essay on it for my Victorian Narrative Poetry class, and am looking for thoughts, opinions, criticism, reviews – any input at all accepted. I read it three years ago and it was instantly a personal favorite: witty, well-paced, good characterization, marvelous use of diction and entirely written in verse.

Consisting entirely of over 600 sonnets, Seth’s debut novel traces the romantic entanglements of a small group of twenty-somethings in San Francisco.

“I’m young, employed, healthy, ambitious,
Sound, solvent, self-made, self-possessed.
But all my symptoms are pernicious.
The Dow-Jones of my heart’s depressed.
The sunflower of my youth is wilting.
The tower of my dreams is tilting.
The zoom lens of my zest is blurred.
The drama of my life’s absurd.
What is the root of my neurosis?
I jog, eat brewer’s yeast each day,
And yet I feel life slip away.
I wait your sapient diagnosis.
I die! I faint! I fail! I sink!
You need a lover, John, I think.”

Amazon link
Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Can 690 sonnets, rhyming a-b-a-b-c-c-d-d-e-f-f-e-g-g, be a novel? Definitely! First published in 1986 and still fresh (the sole sign of its publication date being the frequent use of the word yuppie), Vikram Seth’s The Golden Gate will turn the verse-fearing into admiring acolytes. Janet Hayakawa, a yet-to-be-discovered sculptor and drummer in the Liquid Sheep, secretly places a personal ad for her friend John, even though she too is single. “Only her cats provide distraction,/Twin paradigms of lazy action.” The seventh letter does the trick. Lawyer Liz Donati’s submission is two sonnets in toto and disarms John into meeting her. Soon they fall into brief bliss, as do her brother, Ed, and John’s old college roommate, Phil. Unfortunately, the first couple’s love is too soon destroyed, partly by a pet, partly by politics; and the second is rent by religion. Ed pulls away thanks to the Bible: “I have to trust my faith’s decisions, / Not batten on my own volitions.”
The rest of the novel leads less to the traditional comic ending–rapprochement and marriage all around–than to surprising sadness. But in between there is wit, wordplay, abounding allusion, and some marvelous animals, among them the iguana Schwarzenegger. The author even steps onto the stage on occasion: at a frou-frou publishing party a powerful editor accosts him, curious to hear about his new novel. When Seth tells him it’s in verse, the temperature plummets. “‘How marvelously quaint,’ he said, / And subsequently cut me dead.” Luckily, Seth’s real editor did anything but.

From Publishers Weekly
While the idea of a novel in verse may be initially off-putting, readers of this tour de force are in for a treat. Using the sonnet form throughout, and varying his language from lyrical elegance to timely vernacular, Seth’s tale of four California Yuppies is as fully dimensional as a good novel, and twice as diverting. In this witty, compressed style, he gives us fully delineated characters: John, a Silicon Valley executive seeking solace in a meaningful amatory relationship; his friend and ex-lover Janet, an artist and musician in a raucous rock band; Liz, a vivacious Stanford law grad whose parents produce superior California wine; her brother Ed, floundering between sin and religion; and John’s pal Phil, abandoned by his wife and left with his son, his moral vision and his scientific career at Lungless Labs, a scene of antinuclear protests and rallies. It is an engaging story of the pangs and passions of love, interlaced with serious ruminations on homosexuality and religion and on the future of the earth in the atomic age; and some comic sallies on feline behavior, bumper stickers, responses to “personals” ads, and other facets of the contemporary scene as refracted through the California lifestyle. The bard does not hesitate to interrupt his story from time to time, to explain a change in the course of events or to comment upon the structure of his narration, as he defends himself against critics who would accuse him of folly in writing an entire novel in the sonnet form. Inspired by “the marvelous swift meter of Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin,” Seth (From Heaven’s Lake performs imaginative acrobatic jests, quips and puns, delivering his social commentary with spirit and verve. In spite of some passages where he veers toward the maudlin and bathetic,Seth’s experiment is a resounding success. 25,000 first printing; author tour.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
This curious work narrates a tale of San Francisco yuppiedom in the iambic tetrameter, 14-line stanzas of Pushkin’s classic “novel in verse,” Eugene Onegin. Seth’s plot uses Pushkinesque ironic reversals of fate: WASP John misses out on love because his emotions are straitened by weapons work; Jewish Phil drops out of Silicon Valley and finds love, but his male partner, tormented by Catholic guilt, leaves him; Phil and his ex-lover’s sister (John’s aliented woman friend) marry. There are powerful passages (a priest’s anti-nuclear speech; Phil’s debate with his lover), well sketched landscapes, and beguiling asides. Often, however, the thud of clumsy stress jars the reader, and overall the work is a wordy, pedestrian imitation of Onegin ‘s perfect fusion of form and plot. Bay dwellers will enjoy Seth’s portrait of their milieu, Pushkinists may be amused, and poets should respect Seth’s ambition. Mary F. Zirin, Altadena, Cal.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
“At once a bittersweet love story, a wickedly funny novel of manners and an unsentimental meditation on mortality and the nuclear abyss. Always witty–and still profound–the book paints a truthful picture of our dreadful, comic times.”
–Vanity Fair

“A splendid achievement, equally convincing in its exhilaration and its sadness.”
–The New York Times

“The great California novel has been written in verse (and why not?): The Golden Gate gives great joy.”
–Gore Vidal

Review
“At once a bittersweet love story, a wickedly funny novel of manners and an unsentimental meditation on mortality and the nuclear abyss. Always witty–and still profound–the book paints a truthful picture of our dreadful, comic times.”
–Vanity Fair

“A splendid achievement, equally convincing in its exhilaration and its sadness.”
–The New York Times

“The great California novel has been written in verse (and why not?): The Golden Gate gives great joy.”
–Gore Vidal

From the Back Cover
“At once a bittersweet love story, a wickedly funny novel of manners and an unsentimental meditation on mortality and the nuclear abyss. Always witty–and still profound–the book paints a truthful picture of our dreadful, comic times.”
–Vanity Fair

“A splendid achievement, equally convincing in its exhilaration and its sadness.”
–The New York Times

“The great California novel has been written in verse (and why not?): The Golden Gate gives great joy.”
–Gore Vidal

A versified slice of modern life, February 6, 2003
Reviewer: A Reader (India) – See all my reviews
One of the most common things that links people together is a common language. `The Golden Gate’ is written in the universal language of human emotions, and reading this book is an experience of life in current times. Acclaimed to be a typical Californian novel when first published in 1986, the settings and characters easily fit modern youth in almost every part of the developed world. Above all, the book bears the warmth and touch of humanity that identifies Mr.Seth’s inimitable style of writing.
The plot is simple and straightforward, lucidly composed in a sequence of sonnets – The main protagonist John is a successful and lonely engineer. His one-time girlfriend Janet places an ad in a personal column on his behalf and through it, John meets Liz Dorati, a lawyer. An instant attraction brings them together, and they set up home only to drift apart due to opposing views on politics and social ethics, the process accelerated by John’s hatred of Liz’s cat Charlemagne.

John’s colleague Phil who forsakes a lucrative job to keep up with his anti-nuclear principles forms another thread of the story, and reflects the changing face of modern youth, concerned about the world and threats to the environment. The affair between Phil and Liz’s brother Ed is depicted in a poignant manner that makes the reader feel sympathetic, rather than repelled, such relationships being forbidden in many sections of society even today. Ed’s religious beliefs cause him to break up with Phil, and the arguments between the two vividly portray changing values and morals, and the confused state of today’s youth in a world that is as transient as their views.

In a surprising turn of events, Phil and Liz get married, while John tries to cushion his jilted pride in wine and women and the story goes on with a few more twists and turns to a sad and sentimental finish.

The disastrous consequences of nuclear weapons is driven home albeit in a refreshing manner. The book makes one reflect about the current trends observed in society regarding life, the world, relationships, family, friends, love and much more. In this respect, it strikes a parallel with Elizabeth B Browning’s brilliant classic `Aurora Leigh’ where the main protagonist questions an individual’s freedom and role in society, making one feel that idealism is an integral part of all great poetry.

The verse and the story support each other, and the sequence of sonnets enhances the flow, rather than hamper it. A variety of topics ranging from the healthiest diet for a pet iguana, the method of pickling olives, to an invocation to St.Francis are handled with equal veracity. The characters speak in ordinary language that makes it easy to identify with them. The humour woven into the book makes it an absolute delight, and reveals a tongue-in-cheek satirist who perceives the comical angle in even the most tension-ridden situation.

Mr.Seth makes his presence felt, subtly and otherwise in each sonnet and one gets the feeling of having taken a fascinating journey along with him, a feeling that persists long after the book is finished. In one stanza, he mentions that he was inspired to write this book after reading Charles Johnston’s translation of Pushkin’s `Eugene Onegin’, and fervently recommends it to the reader – It would hardly come as a surprise if `The Golden Gate’ inspires an author (or more) to create another masterpiece as a tribute. History as we know has long had a tradition of repeating itself…

Stars for style and originality only, May 3, 2001
Reviewer: MR G. Rodgers (London United Kingdom) – See all my reviews

Probably through my own ignorance, this is the only modern novel I have read which was composed in verse. For that reason alone, the novel had considerable curiosity value for me.
The style is accomplished, and at times witty, and it kept my attention to the extent that I didn’t struggle with or become irritated by it.

But that, I’m afraid, is it. The story itself read like a verse version of Armistead Maupin’s “Tales of the City”, apart from the fact that the characters were just about wholly two-dimensional. I was left not caring in the slightest about them or what happened to them.

To be fair, reading the novel some 15 years after it first appeared was probably not the best thing to do: it’s 1980s style felt very dated now – for example, I confess to finding characters who keep exotic pets (iguanas in this case) utterly irritating rather than quaint, interesting or avant-garde. Times and tastes move on.

Not a book I will return to.

A splendid work!, December 19, 2003
Reviewer: Vivek Sharma “Vivek” (Atlanta, GA USA) – See all my reviews

Vikram Seth has a brilliant style, where ordinary words, events and people stand up and potray emotions in delicate detail. His wit, and wordplay apart, this novel in verse is a fine story of love and loss. Once I read this novel, I found myself reading everything that the author has published yet. Each book written in a different style, and on different substance, Seth is both engrossing and endearing. I believe with Rushdie, Vikram Seth is perhaps the most erudite Indian writer in English of post-colonial world! Though unlike Rushdie, Vikarm speaks in soft and simple language, and addressing so many different styles (travel book, longest novel in English, poetry, novel in verse, novel set in 1950-60s India, novel set in San Fransisco, and London, and Tibet, etc) with such mastery is a mark of his genius.

Style over Substance, January 4, 2005
Reviewer: Viking (S.F. USA) – See all my reviews
I’m pretty sure this book wasn’t written for the ‘average’ reader, and that’s OK. However, if you’re not particularly fond of poetry or accustomed to reading it, this book seems like an exercise in style, and not much else.
The big problem with the story is the characters: They’re cliché and boring. To his credit, Seth does manage to paint a decent picture of the San Francisco Bay Area with it’s stereotypical people, but after reading the first few chapters and realizing that the main character was a blah 20-something tech-yuppie pretty boy who acted like he was having a mid-life crisis, I pretty much lost interest (Like, I should feel bad for this spoiled dork?!). Then he threw in a bunch of stereotypical San Francisco characters ([…] Guy, Asian Artist-girl, mellow Wine-Country Guy etc) and went absolutely nowhere interesting with it. It’s as if Seth wanted to write about the city of San Francisco, but having just moved there he didn’t know anybody interesting, so instead he took a bunch cardboard characters and wrote a boring upper-middle-class soap opera. One reviewer claimed this was `satire’, yeah, right.

I fully agree with another reviewer who recommended Amistead Maupin’s Tales of the City over this.

This amazing book, October 3, 2004
Reviewer: Robert Elgie (Ajax, Ontario Canada) – See all my reviews

It is enough to share this unsigned sonnet that I found written by hand inside the copy of this fine novel that I signed out of the Toronto Public Library:

Dear friend, don’t be intimidated
By this, a novel penned in verse:
Perhaps you have anticipated
That it will be obscure or worse —
Solemn, pretentious, and “poetic”.
Relax! You’ll need no anaesthetic.
Our author tells his tale with style
And wit and charm. Before long, I’ll
Bet, you’ll find yourself engrossed in
Each stanza of this narrative
Of love and lust, of take and give,
Of modern times. Let’s drink a toast in
Honour of the nerve it took
To publish this amazing book.

A Biography of Vikram Seth

Literary Encyclopedia: Vikram Seth

Why, Asks a Friend, Attempt Tetrameter?

Contemporary Writers: Vikram Seth

Can’t afford the book? Try to hunt down a free copy at BookCrossing.com!

Commentary Magazine: Yuppies in Rhyme

Rooted Cosmopolite: Vikram Seth and ‘the Scars of Middlemarch’

Guardian Books: ‘An Equal Music’ review from 2000

Vikram Seth Discussion

Stanford Magazine: Best-selling author Vikram Seth defies convention and proves that for every reason, there’s a rhyme.

The Literatures of India in Comparative Perspectives

Round and Round: a poem from ‘All You who Sleep Tonight’

Behind the Fiction: Novels in Verse

PoeticA: Radio Adaptation of ‘The Golden Gate’, circa 1999

Athabasca University, Comparative Literature: The Novelization of Poetry: Vikram Seth

VIKRAM SETH: THE SUITABLE BOY OF ANGLO-INDIAN WRITING

R.K. Narayan Talks About the New Kid on the Block & An Interview with Vikram Seth

Out of Tune
Vikram Seth’s An Equal Music will sadden fans

BBC4 Audio Interviews: Vikram Seth

Works Cited

Anonymous. “The Booker Prize: Devalued.” Economist 329:7834 (1993)

Bemrose, John. “Full-Lotus Fiction.” Maclean’s 106:22 (1993): 46-48.

Jenkyns, Richard. “A Suitable Boy (book review).” The New Republic 208 (1993): 41.

Perry, John Oliver. “World Literature Review: Indian.” World Literature Today 65:3 (1991): 549-551.

Quinn, Judy. “A Reunion for Seth and Shinker.” Publisher’s Weekly 244:51 (1997): 20.

Rachlin, Jill. “Talking with…Vikram Seth.” People Weekly 39:20 (1993): 65.

Seth, Vikram. A Suitable Boy. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, Inc. 1993.

Seth, Vikram. All You Who Sleep Tonight. New York: Knopf Publishers, Inc. 1990.