Good as Gold contains a rather disconcerting blend of absurdist and realist techniques. As in Catch-22, many of the characterizations are cartoon figures, for example, the testy, devoted WASP Pugh Biddle Conover, a gross parody of the Virginian gentleman-statesman, and Miss Plum, a big-breasted Girl Friday. However, others, such as Gold's long-suffering wife Belle, seem lifelike. And still others are indeed lifelike, as Heller refers to former White House officials and even includes actual newspaper clippings about them.

The language also reveals a confusing mixture of techniques, represented by the striking disparities between the two settings: New York City and Washington, D.C. The Yiddish-flavored dialogue of the Gold family dinner scenes—with the stepmother discoursing on burial plots, the brothers jealously baiting each other, and the sisters boasting of their culinary contributions—is humorous and convincing. Less effective are Heller's attempts to satirize bureaucratese in...