The Nix
Books | Fiction / Literary
4.2
(554)
Nathan Hill
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!
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More Details:
Author
Nathan Hill
Pages
640
Publisher
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published Date
2016-08-30
ISBN
1101946628 9781101946626
Community ReviewsSee all
"the best book I HEARD all year. a first novel and jammed packed with every idea. but it works. funny, human, modern, but with history and somehow a ghost story too. fabulous. you'll laugh you'll cry. stupendous. "
G C
George Cx
"Beautiful, funny, tragic, heartwarming tale about family and hope against a satirical background of contemporary American capitalism and politics. "
J P
John Paul
"I highly recommend if you are a fan of Rich Boy, The Goldfinch, or This Side of Paradise. Also if you love literature that explores class, circumstance, and sexuality. "
I H
Ian Hatch
""People love each other for many reasons, not all of them good. They love each other because it's easy. Or because they're used to it. Or because they've given up. Or because they're scared. People can be a Nix for each other."<br/><br/>Think about all the people that you crossed paths with throughout your entire life and how they impacted you in some way. Maybe your relationship/friendship was easy, or maybe it wasn't. Maybe you didn't separate yourself from a toxic relationship because you become accustomed to the monotony and you're afraid of change. Overall, these relationships probably hurt you in some way. It influences your actions and who you become. People impact people- whether it is in a positive or negative way. This novel explores the idea that our decisions and who we become are shaped by others in our lifespan, as well as previous generations of people that we may not have met. The narration jumps to various perspectives and times to analyze how people ultimately impact us and our decisions. It further proves that we, as humans, act accordingly for those around us in order to meet their expectations of us. When we don't meet their expectations, we become lost and continuously repeat the memory of that moment in our minds. What could I have done differently? How could I fix this? Maybe the answer is that we can't and it is something we have to accept.<br/><br/>Another favorite quote: "When all you have is the memory of a thing, all you can think about is how the thing is gone." Maybe the memory haunts us forever. Or maybe it doesn't if we finally decide that it's time to move on.<br/><br/>"
"A thoroughly entertaining book! I miss it already."
K W
Kate Wester
"A very timely novel."
G m
Gail michelson
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