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3.26 AVERAGE
3.26 AVERAGE
I don't know, this is supposed to be a great book but I got bored like 3 pages in.
Fantastic. Tenderly unsentimental. Lexically exacting.
This book was a drag. I was excited to read it after the reviews and the fact that it was about NYC but honestly, there are too many other books to read to waste any more time on this. Well written but a drag.
O'Neill writes with power and when it works, it really works. His descriptions fairly devastate, as here:
"I'm sorry, darling," she said. She was tearful. "I'm so sorry." She wiped her nose.
I was sitting on the floor, my shoes stupidly pointing at the ceiling. The yelping of emergency vehicles welled up from the street, flooded the room, and ebbed one yelp at a time.
I said disastrously, "Is there anything I can say that'll make you change your mind?"
We sat opposite each other in silence. Then I tossed my coat onto a chair and went to the bathroom. When I picked up my toothbrush it was wet. She had used it with a wife's unthinking intimacy. A hooting sob rose up from my chest.
But when it doesn't work, it's gag-worthy ("gold drool" in particular just kills me):
He wore an open-collared shirt and neatly creased trousers that spilled generously over sneakers. I noticed for the first time a couple of large gold rings on his fingers and, running in the dark hair beneath his throat, a necklace's gold drool.
"I'm sorry, darling," she said. She was tearful. "I'm so sorry." She wiped her nose.
I was sitting on the floor, my shoes stupidly pointing at the ceiling. The yelping of emergency vehicles welled up from the street, flooded the room, and ebbed one yelp at a time.
I said disastrously, "Is there anything I can say that'll make you change your mind?"
We sat opposite each other in silence. Then I tossed my coat onto a chair and went to the bathroom. When I picked up my toothbrush it was wet. She had used it with a wife's unthinking intimacy. A hooting sob rose up from my chest.
But when it doesn't work, it's gag-worthy ("gold drool" in particular just kills me):
He wore an open-collared shirt and neatly creased trousers that spilled generously over sneakers. I noticed for the first time a couple of large gold rings on his fingers and, running in the dark hair beneath his throat, a necklace's gold drool.
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
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:
No
Netherland had been showing up in a lot of lists of top books of the last 10 years so I wanted to give it a read. I thought it was excellent. Tells a story of a young family torn apart by the post 9/11 world. The family moved to New York from London and were there for the 9/11 attacks. Wife decides to leave and go back to London. The story is told mostly from Hans perspective as he copes with a New York life filled with loneliness, investment banking, cricket and new experiences.
This was not my post-9/11 novel. Sorry Hans, sorry Chuck, sorry Joseph.
Probably a great read if you live(d) in New York, especially post 9/11, and a must read if you're into cricket. I had high hopes based on the glowing reviews, but it fell short for me.
This didn't quite live up to the hype for me, except in the "it's reminiscent of The Great Gatsby" sense. It's a lot like The Great Gatsby, but dealing with out-of-the-country immigrants coming to the East coast, rather than midwestern immigrants coming to the East coast. O'Neill tries to improve on the formula by giving his narrator actual personal concerns (regarding his failing marriage) but he doesn't extend that giving his character a personality or making him not utterly passive, so it only helps partially. I did love the insights into post-9/11 New York, and the immigrant cricket culture, and there was a lot of atmosphere in general that was really nice. But it was lacking for substance in some areas, I think.