Reviews

Wellness by Nathan Hill

sarahbraves's review against another edition

reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

booknerd7820's review against another edition

3.0

I seem to be in the minority here that as much as I thoroughly enjoyed The Nix, Nathan Hill's debut novel, his sophomore effort with Wellness fell completely flat for me. I am not denying that Hill is an excellent writer. His prose is gorgeous and he captures life and marriage extremely well. I just simply did not like the characters and although I've been married for nearly twenty years with two children, I could not relate to the problems that Jack and Elizabeth had. Basically, I found their relationship completely toxic and even though I know the point of the story is satirical, I did not care to learn what happened to them. Much of the plot seemed to wander and honestly, the extremely long chapter on social media algorithms, although interesting, was way way too long. I wish there had been a greater tie in with Elizabeth's Wellness clinic and her personality and childhood background like there was with Jack and his photography. I personally would have cut about 300 pages from the novel and it would have done a better job of achieving what I think it set out to do.

Obviously, this book has gotten a lot of acclaim and I truly believe it's more of me being a mood reader and just not feeling this one at the moment. However, I do see a lot of literary merit for the right reader. I just wasn't it.

Thank you to NetGalley, Nathan Hill, and Knopf for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

thebakerbookworm's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

If you're looking for a character drama exploring themes of marriage, family, social media, modern-day parenting, art, mental health, plus so much more, this is the book for you!

I didn't know a ton going into this book except that it had rave reviews online, but it is worth the hype! I fell in love with Jack and Elizabeth, and young Toby, and so many of the side characters, and the story was subtly tugging on my heart strings and dragging me along and then it decided to give a big yank at the end until my heart started crying and begging for a happy ending.

(You'll have to read the book to find out if my heart got its wish.)

The story jumps around from present day to past, showing us snapshots of Jack's and Elizabeth's lives, before they knew each other and all through their marriage, until we finally have a more complete picture of who they are and why their marriage is struggling. I loved all the commentary on placebos how to tell if something is true or not, and just how exactly an algorithm can end up manipulating people.

Anyways, there's not a ton for me to say about this one that hasn't already been said. A truly beautiful story that's worth the read—and excellent on audio!

Thank you so much to Libro.fm, PRH Audio, and the author for my ALC!

tdannecker's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

5.0

jenniferlong608's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

krissareads's review against another edition

reflective

4.75

elenasg's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

louisekf's review against another edition

Started out great but quickly became overly verbose and I lost interest. Gave up after a long chapter about a toddler meltdown, complete with reference citations. 

jenferlizbeth's review against another edition

4.0

I loved The Nix, so was looking forward to reading this one. Much like The Nix, the characters’ present experiences are very much intertwined with and enriched by understanding their pasts. It is a beautiful and thought-provoking story that is ultimately about the inner lives we all have and unconscious behavioral motivations that are informed by lived experience. The ending is extremely well done, connecting all the dots while leaving space for the reader’s interpretation of the conclusion, and I found myself forgiving the novel’s flaws as I came to the end. The main thing that knocks my rating down is that there is a fair amount of extraneous fluff that detracted from the story for me and took me out of the novel. There are some instances where passages are repetitive, and, namely, the 40+ pages on the innerworkings of facebook and search algorithms, I found tiresome and largely skimmed for the human elements that Hill writes so well. I will likely be thinking about this story over the next few days/weeks.

skersnick's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5