Reviews - Wellness | The StoryGraph

3.89k reviews for:

Wellness

Nathan Hill

4.14 AVERAGE

hollyku's review against another edition

5.0

In my personal Top 5 of all time. Loved the audiobook.

registrauss's review against another edition

2.0

TLDR. No really, it was too long for what it was and I would not recommend reading it. That is to say, the book was not for me.

My take: this novel was about the life story of two average white people that get married in America in the 90s/00s. Their meet-cute had me excited to see where their love story would go...but we hop from their encounter in a bar to 20 years later and they are married, have a kid and are buying a house they can't afford.

The writing read like "Hello Beautiful" and "Tom Lake" for me, both novels where I appreciated the finesse of the writing.

The overall book dragged on a bit. There was a lot of wandering through their life, a lot of non-linear storytelling which is not my cup of tea. I felt like I never knew where in the timelines they were. And some of the jumps took the read down a rabbit hole of history that did not add to the main plot.

Speaking of...what was the plot? I was 50% into the book when I asked myself this question, but I was 100% sure I didn't care.

melissa1991's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-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

mollovett's review against another edition

2.0

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Very slow. Reductively based in the childhood histories of a married couple.

bourbon_bookworm's review against another edition

5.0

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

"...between ourselves and the world are a million stories, and if we don’t know which among them are true, we might as well try out those that are most humane, most generous, most beautiful, most loving."

This may be my favorite read so far this year. From the very first page, I was completely captivated by the writing, which is rich, evocative, and remarkably detailed. The characters are some of the most well-rounded and fully realized I’ve encountered in a long time. Hill does an extraordinary job of bringing them to life, making their struggles and triumphs deeply relatable.

I was surprised at how quickly I finished this book—it pulled me in and kept me hooked from start to finish. At its heart, Wellness is an insightful exploration of how our family histories and childhood experiences shape us as adults. The author examines how past events, both big and small, and the coping mechanisms we develop in response, influence the relationships we form later in life. The book is a poignant reflection on how our pasts continuously influence who we become and the way we relate to others as we grow.

Hill's ability to balance deep emotional insight with a gripping narrative makes this a standout novel. It’s a story that feels both deeply personal and universally relevant. Highly recommended!

Content Warnings

lexichap's review against another edition

4.0

It is very clear that Nathan Hill is a very intellectual individual. This book was so good at bringing together a somewhat simple story of a couple into a complex, smartly written narrative. I was so surprised to come out of this book with more knowledge than I went in with. It challenged me in ways I wasn’t expecting. Very impressed.