The Nix

By Nathan Hill

The Nix - Nathan Hill
  • Release Date: 2016-08-30
  • Genre: Literary Fiction
Score: 4
4
From 326 Ratings

Description

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!

Reviews

  • NIX

    4
    By Konakayaklady
    Overly detailed perhaps in places, but very historically real. I love that all the major characters gained some understanding of themselves and each other at the end and achieved some kind of satisfaction and happiness (except for Charlie Brown).
  • Not for me

    2
    By Long legion
    I got to page 146. Maybe I should have stuck with it, but it would have not been worth it. I have other books to read that are lined up waiting for me Perhaps I was too hasty to check out of this plot, but if a writer doesn’t grab me by this point, I’m done. I offer my apologies to the author
  • Highly recommend

    4
    By tjpowell82
    Fully engrossing story with fleshed out characters whose flaws you learn to love. Enjoy the time travel back to 1968!
  • The Nix

    1
    By A15g14
    Fluff piece. Total disappointment. Hundreds is pages of filler. Could have been written in 275 pages rather than 945! If this is a best seller we need writing help!!
  • A book that's hard to put down

    5
    By tonez2600
    A great read.
  • Challenging

    2
    By 4488662
    Heard an interview with the author as he discussed his decade long writing endeavor with this book. It shows as this unwieldy story jumps around so much that you simply don't care about the characters. These old fashioned non-linear stories are taxing. The first chapters about Internet gaming depict a lead character as yet another whiny, pasty, limp, damp skinned loser. What happened to heroes? This first impression never changed which caused me to dislike everything the character said and did. I just felt the book was unreadable unless you have a year to do so.
  • Worthless and wordy

    1
    By Mcguirebear
    This book made no sense. I turned hundreds of pages just watching a single paragraph run on and on and on. What a waste of paper
  • Five Stars

    5
    By Lukester2012
    Funny, different, original, thoughtful & thoroughly engaging. Makes you feel young, old and neither of the two.