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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It’s a hefty undertaking of a book, but an absolutely fantastic read.
challenging
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ykw hell yeah
A deeply disappointing read. While the writing is of a high literary standard, particularly in its descriptive passages, it doesn’t deliver the edgy, thought-provoking contemporary American fiction I was hoping for. The sprawling plot, which jumps confusingly back and forth in time, initially holds promise but descends into sentimentality about a third of the way through.
The story opens strong, immersing the reader in an intense online game where the details - what the game looks like, how it’s structured, and the players (all from Chicago but hidden behind avatars) - are vividly rendered. The game's charismatic leader is eventually revealed as Professor Samuel Anderson, a high school teacher whose semi-illiterate, obnoxious pupils endure his Hamlet lesson with little interest. Among them is a scheming sophomore girl trying to game the grading system, which gets Samuel into trouble. This section is a sharp, hilarious satire on academic life and teenage dialogue, reminiscent of George Saunders.
Beset by his online gaming addiction, his school troubles, and financial worries, out of nowhere Samuel is contacted by a lawyer defending his long-lost mother, who walked out of his life years ago. She’s now in legal trouble in Chicago for an incident that involved throwing gravel at a politician. The lawyer wants Samuel to write a character statement for her. Despite not having seen her for decades, Samuel agrees and goes to look her up.
At this point we get a subplot about Samuel the once-successful teenage author, who still has a publishing contract but hasn’t written the promised book. The publisher, threatening him with terrifying penalties, demands that he write any book. This part is darkly funny, with the publisher’s threats revealing just how precarious Samuel’s finances are.
His agreement to write his mother’s character statement leads him to an abandoned building where she’s living, where she’s less than thrilled to see him. Their conversation veers into memories of the past, particularly about his father. This frustrates the lawyer, who only wants a brief statement.
At this point the plot seems to be moving toward something promising and intriguing, but this is where things begin to unravel. Samuel decides to turn his character statement into a book about his mother and begins by making a trip to visit his father, who is now a dementia patient in a care home.
But in a digression, the narrative diverts into lengthy reflections on Samuel’s childhood growing up in a poor suburb adjacent to a wealthy one, with details about his friendship with a rich boy and his infatuation with the rich boy’s musical prodigy sister. This drags on on so long, with its own meandering sub-plots, that we begin to demand some sort of order: where is this book going? Do we care? Do we actually like any of these characters? What happened to the enjoyable sarcasm at the beginning?
Despite Nathan Hill’s beautiful, ironic writing and vivid portrayal of American life, at this point the story begins to lose focus. I found myself wondering where it was heading. What had initially felt like a tightly crafted novel starts to expand into an unwieldy epic, and we’re only a third of the way through.
Samuel’s visit to his father, whose dementia creates a kaleidoscope of shifting memories, introduces a deeper emotional tone. While this is skilfully done, it soon turns sentimental, which feels at odds with the sharper, more cynical tone earlier in the book. The situation of an elderly, neglected father is indeed poignant, but it doesn’t mesh well with the narrative's earlier edginess.
Things take a turn for the worse with an exhaustive account of Samuel’s mother’s life—her dull school days, her unremarkable life choices, and her ongoing sense of regret. The pervasive mood of wasted potential left me feeling increasingly depressed. By the time I reached the halfway point of this immense novel, I had lost interest. The plot wasn’t going in the direction I had hoped, so I decided to put it down. Sorry, but this one just didn’t do it for me.
The story opens strong, immersing the reader in an intense online game where the details - what the game looks like, how it’s structured, and the players (all from Chicago but hidden behind avatars) - are vividly rendered. The game's charismatic leader is eventually revealed as Professor Samuel Anderson, a high school teacher whose semi-illiterate, obnoxious pupils endure his Hamlet lesson with little interest. Among them is a scheming sophomore girl trying to game the grading system, which gets Samuel into trouble. This section is a sharp, hilarious satire on academic life and teenage dialogue, reminiscent of George Saunders.
Beset by his online gaming addiction, his school troubles, and financial worries, out of nowhere Samuel is contacted by a lawyer defending his long-lost mother, who walked out of his life years ago. She’s now in legal trouble in Chicago for an incident that involved throwing gravel at a politician. The lawyer wants Samuel to write a character statement for her. Despite not having seen her for decades, Samuel agrees and goes to look her up.
At this point we get a subplot about Samuel the once-successful teenage author, who still has a publishing contract but hasn’t written the promised book. The publisher, threatening him with terrifying penalties, demands that he write any book. This part is darkly funny, with the publisher’s threats revealing just how precarious Samuel’s finances are.
His agreement to write his mother’s character statement leads him to an abandoned building where she’s living, where she’s less than thrilled to see him. Their conversation veers into memories of the past, particularly about his father. This frustrates the lawyer, who only wants a brief statement.
At this point the plot seems to be moving toward something promising and intriguing, but this is where things begin to unravel. Samuel decides to turn his character statement into a book about his mother and begins by making a trip to visit his father, who is now a dementia patient in a care home.
But in a digression, the narrative diverts into lengthy reflections on Samuel’s childhood growing up in a poor suburb adjacent to a wealthy one, with details about his friendship with a rich boy and his infatuation with the rich boy’s musical prodigy sister. This drags on on so long, with its own meandering sub-plots, that we begin to demand some sort of order: where is this book going? Do we care? Do we actually like any of these characters? What happened to the enjoyable sarcasm at the beginning?
Despite Nathan Hill’s beautiful, ironic writing and vivid portrayal of American life, at this point the story begins to lose focus. I found myself wondering where it was heading. What had initially felt like a tightly crafted novel starts to expand into an unwieldy epic, and we’re only a third of the way through.
Samuel’s visit to his father, whose dementia creates a kaleidoscope of shifting memories, introduces a deeper emotional tone. While this is skilfully done, it soon turns sentimental, which feels at odds with the sharper, more cynical tone earlier in the book. The situation of an elderly, neglected father is indeed poignant, but it doesn’t mesh well with the narrative's earlier edginess.
Things take a turn for the worse with an exhaustive account of Samuel’s mother’s life—her dull school days, her unremarkable life choices, and her ongoing sense of regret. The pervasive mood of wasted potential left me feeling increasingly depressed. By the time I reached the halfway point of this immense novel, I had lost interest. The plot wasn’t going in the direction I had hoped, so I decided to put it down. Sorry, but this one just didn’t do it for me.
I'm always in for a story about a nerdy, misfit type kid and Samuel Andresen-Anderson fits the bill. The story follows Samuel as he pieces his mother's (who abandoned him as a 12-year-old) life story together. I would likely have gone with 5 stars but the extreme wordiness alone knocked it down one full star. Because it was really freaking wordy.