The Nix
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the suburban Midwest to New York City to the 1968 riots that rocked Chicago and beyond, a novel that explores—with sharp humor and a fierce tenderness—the resilience of love and home, even in times of radical change.
"Hugely entertaining and unfailingly smart.... [A] supersize and audacious novel of American misadventure.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Nathan Hill is a maestro.” —John Irving
It’s 2011, and Samuel Andresen-Anderson hasn’t seen his mother, Faye, in decades—not since she abandoned the family when he was a boy. Now she’s reappeared, having committed an absurd crime that electrifies the nightly news and inflames a politically divided country. The media paints Faye as a radical hippie with a sordid past, but as far as Samuel knows, his mother was an ordinary girl who married her high-school sweetheart. Which version of his mother is true? Two facts are certain: she’s facing some serious charges, and she needs Samuel’s help.
To save her, Samuel will have to embark on his own journey, uncovering long-buried secrets about the woman he thought he knew, secrets that stretch across generations and have their origin all the way back in Norway, home of the mysterious Nix. As he does so, Samuel will confront not only Faye’s losses but also his own lost love, and will relearn everything he thought he knew about his mother, and himself.
Look for Nathan Hill's new novel, Wellness!
"Hugely entertaining and unfailingly smart.... [A] supersize and audacious novel of American misadventure.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Nathan Hill is a maestro.” —John Irving
It’s 2011, and Samuel Andresen-Anderson hasn’t seen his mother, Faye, in decades—not since she abandoned the family when he was a boy. Now she’s reappeared, having committed an absurd crime that electrifies the nightly news and inflames a politically divided country. The media paints Faye as a radical hippie with a sordid past, but as far as Samuel knows, his mother was an ordinary girl who married her high-school sweetheart. Which version of his mother is true? Two facts are certain: she’s facing some serious charges, and she needs Samuel’s help.
To save her, Samuel will have to embark on his own journey, uncovering long-buried secrets about the woman he thought he knew, secrets that stretch across generations and have their origin all the way back in Norway, home of the mysterious Nix. As he does so, Samuel will confront not only Faye’s losses but also his own lost love, and will relearn everything he thought he knew about his mother, and himself.
Look for Nathan Hill's new novel, Wellness!
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The Nix by Nathan Hill
620 pages
What's it about?
Samuel is abandoned in childhood by his mother, Faye, and never quite gets over it. This story flashes from the present day, back to 1968 Chicago where we learn more about what may have prompted Faye's decision to leave her family.
What did it make me think about?
This novel is deeply ambitious. I can see why it was so well reviewed. The writing is thoughtful and the book explores the many ways our world is changing and how these changes are affecting the millennial generation. A subject I find fascinating. However I just didn't really love this book. I did not find the characters that compelling. Maybe it was my mood.
Should I read it?
This book seems like a Man-Booker award winner. I assume it will win lots of awards- and deservedly should. It is also really timely- with it's look back at the disenchanted generation of the 60's. It is absolutely worth reading (see the beautiful quote below), but somehow it still wasn't a favorite of mine. I felt like it touched my mind, but left my heart a little cold.
Quote-
"For Alice, the small true part of her was that she wanted something that deserved her faith and devotion. When she was young, she saw families retreat into their homes and ignore the greater problems of the world and she hated them: bourgeois cogs in the machine, unthinking sheeplike masses, selfish bastards who couldn't see beyond their own property lines. Their souls, she thought, must have been small and shrunken things.
But then she grew up and bought a house and found a lover and got some dogs and stewarded her land and tried to fill her home with love and light and she realized her earlier error: that these things did not make you small. In fact, these things seem to enlarge her. That by choosing a few very private concerns and pouring herself into them, she had never felt so expanded. That, paradoxically, narrowing her concerns had made her more capable of love and generosity and empathy and, yes, even peace and justice. It was the difference between loving something out of duty–because the movement required it of you–and loving something you actually loved. Love – real, genuine, unasked- for love– made room for more of itself, it turned out. Love, when freely given, your duplicates and multiplies."
If you like this try-
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
Here I am by Jonathan Safron Foer
A Little Life by Tanya Yanagihara
Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson
The Nix by Nathan Hill
620 pages
What's it about?
Samuel is abandoned in childhood by his mother, Faye, and never quite gets over it. This story flashes from the present day, back to 1968 Chicago where we learn more about what may have prompted Faye's decision to leave her family.
What did it make me think about?
This novel is deeply ambitious. I can see why it was so well reviewed. The writing is thoughtful and the book explores the many ways our world is changing and how these changes are affecting the millennial generation. A subject I find fascinating. However I just didn't really love this book. I did not find the characters that compelling. Maybe it was my mood.
Should I read it?
This book seems like a Man-Booker award winner. I assume it will win lots of awards- and deservedly should. It is also really timely- with it's look back at the disenchanted generation of the 60's. It is absolutely worth reading (see the beautiful quote below), but somehow it still wasn't a favorite of mine. I felt like it touched my mind, but left my heart a little cold.
Quote-
"For Alice, the small true part of her was that she wanted something that deserved her faith and devotion. When she was young, she saw families retreat into their homes and ignore the greater problems of the world and she hated them: bourgeois cogs in the machine, unthinking sheeplike masses, selfish bastards who couldn't see beyond their own property lines. Their souls, she thought, must have been small and shrunken things.
But then she grew up and bought a house and found a lover and got some dogs and stewarded her land and tried to fill her home with love and light and she realized her earlier error: that these things did not make you small. In fact, these things seem to enlarge her. That by choosing a few very private concerns and pouring herself into them, she had never felt so expanded. That, paradoxically, narrowing her concerns had made her more capable of love and generosity and empathy and, yes, even peace and justice. It was the difference between loving something out of duty–because the movement required it of you–and loving something you actually loved. Love – real, genuine, unasked- for love– made room for more of itself, it turned out. Love, when freely given, your duplicates and multiplies."
If you like this try-
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
Here I am by Jonathan Safron Foer
A Little Life by Tanya Yanagihara
Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson
A bizarre fabulous quirky book. There were many times where I couldn't see where it was all going but I think that was the point. Each disconnected story was bizarre in and if itself and then would cross each other. Loved it.
I think Nathan Hill is my new favorite author. This book has so much going on that justifies it's length. I started it one night and finished it the next day. Beautiful and thoughtful prose. 5/5
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