The Nix by Nathan Hill was a very satisfying book. The problem with reading a book like that is that everything else pales in comparison for a while after that. The book is some 650 pages long - so daunting at first glance and difficult to hold while lying down. And it starts slowly - so it took some staying power to go with the flow. It covers the life of the narrator, who is the author probably, for about 30 years. The story is told from various perspectives and includes an interesting period in the history of the USA - the student riots in the late 60s, anti-Vietnam, hippy, free sex used interchangeably with free love. The book is a commentary on the endemic corruption in the country, women’s rights (their absence really!), consumerism, environmental issues, etc. over time. It focusses on small town life, campus life in Chicago and briefly goes to New York. We get a glimpse of a small town in Norway which left me wanting more.
Many of the lines in the book found resonance within me. And showed again that geography doesn’t really matter - we human beings have something at our core that is common globally. Or it could be just the English speaking human beings!
The book ends well - not too neat, but with enough spaces for happiness. As I near the end of a book this size, I usually go slower in my reading - I don’t want to be disappointed. This book left me satisfied.
It has been a long time since I read a book that has been so leisurely in dealing with all the characters and going off into various tangents before bringing the many threads together again. I did get surprised several times at the turns the book took.
I wouldn’t define the book as un-put-downable; more like it was a pleasure to come back to each day. I look forward to the next one by Nathan Hill.
February 2018
Gifted to me last year for my birthday
No comments:
Post a Comment