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3.26 AVERAGE
3.26 AVERAGE
Netherland is an interesting look at a man orginally from Holland who works between London and NYC. It's an interesting study and one man's take on the culture of the city surrounding 911, though it actually talks about cricket more than it talks about terrorism. Hans is a banker and lives in the Chelsea Hotel, which should sound more romantic but one gets the idea that he takes all his money for granted and doesn't relish every moment of his existence like some might leading the same one. Hans isn't a bad guy and he's intellectually astute in many ways, drawing comparisons between his old neighborhood and those of NYC and meeting a whole host of interesting men from various backgrounds and ethnicity, all bonding under the guise of their favorite sport, Cricket, which they think could become more popular than baseball.
He's also a man with a young son and a wife who would rather be anywhere else but NYC after 911. She doesn't feel safe and instead lets her extreme anxiety rule her decisions. Hans seems lost and lonely and this book is sort of about that but, at the same time, his difficulties and any emotional behavior seems also subdued...maybe it's a cultural thing.
I found that this book was quite intriguing but I think it suffered from one of the things many novels do-it just doesn't have a very likable protagonist. Hans isn't a bad guy but I can't really relate to a banker who thinks $6,000 a month rent in early 2000s is just petty change. It just doesn't sit well with me. It makes him unlikable...and also, difficult to relate to. Hans is not a common man dealing with a common man's struggle. Hans is a rich male banker and he's hard to feel sorry for. He's investing in oil and making a fortune. Yet, he doesn't seem to have any big ethical struggles with the amount of money he is making and how he is making it. He just goes with the flow so to speak.
Anyhow, worth reading, especially if you happen to love bankers from Holland.
Memorable quotes:
pg. 28 "My family, the spine of my days, had crumbled. I was lost in invertebrate time."
pg. 89 "...Manhattan was squarely revealed and guarded by colossal billboards, I pitched homeward into its pluvial lights."
...
"I was young. I was not much extracted from the innocence in which the benevolent but fraudulent world conspires to place us as children."
pg. 106 "A life seemed like an old story."
pg. 111 "I recall, also, trying to shrug off a sharp new sadness that I;m only now able to identify without tentativeness, which is to say, the sadness produced when the mirroring world no longer offers a surface in which one may recognise one's true likeness."
pg. 126 "I was thinking of the miserable apprehension we have of even those existences that matter most to us. To witness a life, even in love-even with a camera-was to witness a monstrous crime without noticing the particulars required for justice."
pg. 151 "The day itself was perforated by the rattle of a woodpecker."
pg. 173 "We are in the realm not of logic but of wistfulness, and I must maintain that wistfulness is a respectable, serious condition. Otherwise, how to account for much of one's life?"
pg. 204 "I'm saying that people, all people, Americans, whoever are at their most civilised when they're playing cricket. Whats' the first thing that happens when Pakistan and India make peace? They play a cricket match. Cricket is instructive, Hans. It has a moral angle. I really believe this....We want to have something in common with Hindus and Muslims?...With the New York Cricket Club, we could start a whole new chapter in US History."
pg. 212 "Love...is such an omnibus word."
pg. 247 "There was much smiling, pointing, physical intertwining, kissing. Everybody looked at the Statue of Liberty and at Ellis Island and at the Brooklyn Bridge, but finally, inevitably, everybody looked to Manhattan. The structures clustered at its tip made a warm, familiar crowd, and as their surfaces brightened ever more fiercely with sunlight it was possible to imagine that vertical accumulations of humanity were gathering to greet out arrival. The day was darkening at the margins, but so what..."
He's also a man with a young son and a wife who would rather be anywhere else but NYC after 911. She doesn't feel safe and instead lets her extreme anxiety rule her decisions. Hans seems lost and lonely and this book is sort of about that but, at the same time, his difficulties and any emotional behavior seems also subdued...maybe it's a cultural thing.
I found that this book was quite intriguing but I think it suffered from one of the things many novels do-it just doesn't have a very likable protagonist. Hans isn't a bad guy but I can't really relate to a banker who thinks $6,000 a month rent in early 2000s is just petty change. It just doesn't sit well with me. It makes him unlikable...and also, difficult to relate to. Hans is not a common man dealing with a common man's struggle. Hans is a rich male banker and he's hard to feel sorry for. He's investing in oil and making a fortune. Yet, he doesn't seem to have any big ethical struggles with the amount of money he is making and how he is making it. He just goes with the flow so to speak.
Anyhow, worth reading, especially if you happen to love bankers from Holland.
Memorable quotes:
pg. 28 "My family, the spine of my days, had crumbled. I was lost in invertebrate time."
pg. 89 "...Manhattan was squarely revealed and guarded by colossal billboards, I pitched homeward into its pluvial lights."
...
"I was young. I was not much extracted from the innocence in which the benevolent but fraudulent world conspires to place us as children."
pg. 106 "A life seemed like an old story."
pg. 111 "I recall, also, trying to shrug off a sharp new sadness that I;m only now able to identify without tentativeness, which is to say, the sadness produced when the mirroring world no longer offers a surface in which one may recognise one's true likeness."
pg. 126 "I was thinking of the miserable apprehension we have of even those existences that matter most to us. To witness a life, even in love-even with a camera-was to witness a monstrous crime without noticing the particulars required for justice."
pg. 151 "The day itself was perforated by the rattle of a woodpecker."
pg. 173 "We are in the realm not of logic but of wistfulness, and I must maintain that wistfulness is a respectable, serious condition. Otherwise, how to account for much of one's life?"
pg. 204 "I'm saying that people, all people, Americans, whoever are at their most civilised when they're playing cricket. Whats' the first thing that happens when Pakistan and India make peace? They play a cricket match. Cricket is instructive, Hans. It has a moral angle. I really believe this....We want to have something in common with Hindus and Muslims?...With the New York Cricket Club, we could start a whole new chapter in US History."
pg. 212 "Love...is such an omnibus word."
pg. 247 "There was much smiling, pointing, physical intertwining, kissing. Everybody looked at the Statue of Liberty and at Ellis Island and at the Brooklyn Bridge, but finally, inevitably, everybody looked to Manhattan. The structures clustered at its tip made a warm, familiar crowd, and as their surfaces brightened ever more fiercely with sunlight it was possible to imagine that vertical accumulations of humanity were gathering to greet out arrival. The day was darkening at the margins, but so what..."
It took a while for “Netherland” to hook me, partly because Hans is almost neutral as a narrator. As a reader, I didn’t often feel for him, which I like to do when I read. Having said that, the events in his life are interesting and the way he allows his life to flow where it will is absorbing.
He has a skillful observational eye, which enables him to observe the true nature of people and to understand their motivations and yet he seems not to judge them. He also understands why he interacts with them and perhaps, why he shouldn’t, yet his self-awareness does not prompt him to act. This lack of motivation to change and his willingness to accept what is, is what made him accessible and "real" to me.
It is through his relationship with Chuck, who is compelling as a character, and the reconstruction of his marriage with Rachel that we see who Hans really is and come to understand how he views the world.
The descriptive pieces and metaphors were also very good and helped to keep me reading. O’Neill was adept at delivering valuable insights in just a line or two and by the end of the book, I appreciated and enjoyed the magnificent way Hans viewed the world and his place in it.
Some of my favourite phrases were the “somethingness of doing”, the “furnace of memory”, the “human flash light” (someone who illuminates things you previously but incorrectly thought were already illuminated), and “pots and pans under life’s leaking ceiling” (things you use, such as work, to avoid facing the reality of your life).
He has a skillful observational eye, which enables him to observe the true nature of people and to understand their motivations and yet he seems not to judge them. He also understands why he interacts with them and perhaps, why he shouldn’t, yet his self-awareness does not prompt him to act. This lack of motivation to change and his willingness to accept what is, is what made him accessible and "real" to me.
It is through his relationship with Chuck, who is compelling as a character, and the reconstruction of his marriage with Rachel that we see who Hans really is and come to understand how he views the world.
The descriptive pieces and metaphors were also very good and helped to keep me reading. O’Neill was adept at delivering valuable insights in just a line or two and by the end of the book, I appreciated and enjoyed the magnificent way Hans viewed the world and his place in it.
Some of my favourite phrases were the “somethingness of doing”, the “furnace of memory”, the “human flash light” (someone who illuminates things you previously but incorrectly thought were already illuminated), and “pots and pans under life’s leaking ceiling” (things you use, such as work, to avoid facing the reality of your life).
I was severely disappointed by this book. It was well written, but the story was extremely boring. I wanted to quit reading after 50 pages in, but I finished thinking the ending would redeem itself. It did not.
I enjoyed it - more so the writing than the story itself.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
If, when comparing this book to The Great Gatsby reviewers wanted me to hate this book, they only half succeeded. The first half was somewhat irritating as I find it hard to feel interested in a wealthy dutchman who's wife left him and moved back to England. However, there are some amazing passages including one about the DMV which is really great in that it makes you feel the frustration you would feel if you went to the DMV yourself.
The last 50-100 pages were best, particularly when describing the protagonist's friend Chuck, but overall a disappointing endeavor in my opinion.
The last 50-100 pages were best, particularly when describing the protagonist's friend Chuck, but overall a disappointing endeavor in my opinion.
O'Neill's narrative voice in this book is somewhat detached, yet reflective and keenly observant. It resonated with me particularly, because I was living in New York after September 11th. Humorous, beautifully written, and with an ear for the diverse voices of the city.
Érdekes könyv, a 9/11 utáni New York világába enged bepillantást, egy holland bróker széthulló családi életén keresztül. A fickó a krikettben keresi a vígaszt és megismerkedik egy érdekes Karbi tengeri figurával. Nagyon olvasmányos, fantasztikusan kidolgozott karakterekkel.
An interesting read, but relatively unmemorable. I was never quite sold on the character of Chuck - I understood why Hans found him interesting, but I didn't share that interest. I liked the style, and there were some great descriptions of feelings and things, but I was kept (perhaps intentionally) emotionally distant from the characters, and there were only rare moments, like right at the end, that I felt a connection. Not quite my kind of book, but worth reading if it sounds interesting to you.