A review by bgg616
The Nix, by Nathan Hill
4.0
Is there something in the water compelling American writers to put out books that are 600 pages or longer? Recent examples include [b:The Goldfinch|17333223|The Goldfinch|Donna Tartt|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1451554970s/17333223.jpg|24065147], [b:A Little Life|22822858|A Little Life|Hanya Yanagihara|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1446469353s/22822858.jpg|42375710], [b:City on Fire|24189224|City on Fire|Garth Risk Hallberg|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1422969880s/24189224.jpg|26690360], and [b:Christodora|27070074|Christodora|Tim Murphy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1468236973s/27070074.jpg|47112536] (actually 496 pages). Some deserve to be that long and The Nix can be put in that category.
The novel crosses at least three decades investigating the Andreson-Anderson family, specifically Samuel and his mother Faye. While the story moves between decades, we spend enough time on each episode to get a deeper understanding of each character.
There are details in parts of the books that some will enjoy and others will want to race through. As a college professor I really identified with Samuel's back and forth with a student guilty of plagiarism, but the endless description of video gamers weren't for me. We expect to dislike Faye, the mother who abandoned her husband and son, but in the end she was the character I appreciated the most. Samuel, the struggling writer and inadequate professor, didn't earn a lot of sympathy from me.
Though a long novel covering a lot of time, it didn't feel sprawling. Some will love it and others may just say "meh".
The novel crosses at least three decades investigating the Andreson-Anderson family, specifically Samuel and his mother Faye. While the story moves between decades, we spend enough time on each episode to get a deeper understanding of each character.
There are details in parts of the books that some will enjoy and others will want to race through. As a college professor I really identified with Samuel's back and forth with a student guilty of plagiarism, but the endless description of video gamers weren't for me. We expect to dislike Faye, the mother who abandoned her husband and son, but in the end she was the character I appreciated the most. Samuel, the struggling writer and inadequate professor, didn't earn a lot of sympathy from me.
Though a long novel covering a lot of time, it didn't feel sprawling. Some will love it and others may just say "meh".