A review by amphytrite
The Nix, by Nathan Hill
5.0
I don't really write reviews on Goodreads, but I'm going to give it a shot here. I'm using the word "review" quite loosely, so whatever. Deal with it.
Some books really stick with me over time. They're big, hearty beasts most of the time, with many characters and interwoven stories. So when I first encountered The Nix at PLA in April, I thought yes. Calgon/Nathan Hill take me away.
And then the advance copy sat on my office shelf for eight months while I kept telling myself--and others--that I really needed to read that book.
I finally forced myself to pick it up, and now I'm so ashamed that it took me this long to crack open The Nix. While it took eight months to start reading, it took me eight days to finish (a feat for a 600+ page book), and the story clung to the corners of my mind whenever I wasn't actively reading.
I don't know what I can add to Goodreads that hasn't already been said about The Nix plotwise, but I'm astonished by its creativity, its depth and breadth, its intelligence and humour, and its emotion. When I arrived at the midway point, the Choose Your Own Adventure section, I was thrilled by the comic relief, devastated by the emotional wear and tear, and thrilled that another 300+ pages still awaited me. With good books there's always the anxiety of THE END, and I feel incredibly lucky that The Nix's end was so much further away. The characters are so great, so whole and human (Guy Periwinkle's a piece of work but he still makes sense), that I felt they were real. I think my next pet might be named after Bishop. And Hill deserves extra points for pulling together every loose thread he drew out at the opening book, and finding a way to make everything sensible.
So now, The Nix will join the bookshelf next to other favourites like The Art of Fielding, Middlesex, The Sisters Brothers (haha surprise!), Tess of the d'Urbervilles, The Sport of Kings (another great one from 2016), and other exceptional works. I and my bookshelf will wait for as long as it takes for Nathan Hill to put out another novel, and I promise it won't take me nearly as long to read.
Some books really stick with me over time. They're big, hearty beasts most of the time, with many characters and interwoven stories. So when I first encountered The Nix at PLA in April, I thought yes. Calgon/Nathan Hill take me away.
And then the advance copy sat on my office shelf for eight months while I kept telling myself--and others--that I really needed to read that book.
I finally forced myself to pick it up, and now I'm so ashamed that it took me this long to crack open The Nix. While it took eight months to start reading, it took me eight days to finish (a feat for a 600+ page book), and the story clung to the corners of my mind whenever I wasn't actively reading.
I don't know what I can add to Goodreads that hasn't already been said about The Nix plotwise, but I'm astonished by its creativity, its depth and breadth, its intelligence and humour, and its emotion. When I arrived at the midway point, the Choose Your Own Adventure section, I was thrilled by the comic relief, devastated by the emotional wear and tear, and thrilled that another 300+ pages still awaited me. With good books there's always the anxiety of THE END, and I feel incredibly lucky that The Nix's end was so much further away. The characters are so great, so whole and human (Guy Periwinkle's a piece of work but he still makes sense), that I felt they were real. I think my next pet might be named after Bishop. And Hill deserves extra points for pulling together every loose thread he drew out at the opening book, and finding a way to make everything sensible.
So now, The Nix will join the bookshelf next to other favourites like The Art of Fielding, Middlesex, The Sisters Brothers (haha surprise!), Tess of the d'Urbervilles, The Sport of Kings (another great one from 2016), and other exceptional works. I and my bookshelf will wait for as long as it takes for Nathan Hill to put out another novel, and I promise it won't take me nearly as long to read.