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mattstebbins 's review for:
Netherland
by Joseph O'Neill
I was leery, I admit it. Comparisons to Gatsby, award-winning writing - these are labels of which I'm naturally suspicious. I remember hearing, back in '08, how much Obama (and other big names) loved this book; even among my friends, it was either loved or hated, which made me curious enough to give it a try.
I see why comparisons have been made to Gatsby, I do, and in some senses maybe it is an updated re-telling. More so, though, it reminded me of [b:Tinkers|4957350|Tinkers|Paul Harding|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1364258693s/4957350.jpg|5023150], and [b:Ghosts|88253|Ghosts (The Freddie Montgomery Trilogy #2)|John Banville|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1389634836s/88253.jpg|1391424], and other novels that reside in a dreamy world of memory and hindsight conjecture. It's the insights you have after only first getting it wrong, and I think those insights - and the clarity with which they're conveyed, even through the dreamy prism of memory - are what made this so enjoyable for me.
That, and it read like non-fiction. Which is, in fact, a compliment.
[4 stars for now, simply because I vacillated between 3 and 5 so regularly. I'm quite certain I'll return to re-read this again, and then maybe I'll have a better feel for it.]
I see why comparisons have been made to Gatsby, I do, and in some senses maybe it is an updated re-telling. More so, though, it reminded me of [b:Tinkers|4957350|Tinkers|Paul Harding|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1364258693s/4957350.jpg|5023150], and [b:Ghosts|88253|Ghosts (The Freddie Montgomery Trilogy #2)|John Banville|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1389634836s/88253.jpg|1391424], and other novels that reside in a dreamy world of memory and hindsight conjecture. It's the insights you have after only first getting it wrong, and I think those insights - and the clarity with which they're conveyed, even through the dreamy prism of memory - are what made this so enjoyable for me.
That, and it read like non-fiction. Which is, in fact, a compliment.
[4 stars for now, simply because I vacillated between 3 and 5 so regularly. I'm quite certain I'll return to re-read this again, and then maybe I'll have a better feel for it.]