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krystyn_mtl 's review for:
Nederland
by Joseph O'Neill
This book was very well reviewed. After sitting in my queue for a long time, I finally listened to it. I regret it. First, the good points - the prose is nice and the characters are interesting and nuanced. It was pretty to listen to. The author clearly has skill. But that's the best I can say for it. I SHOULD have liked this book. I like slow, character-driven stories. I don't need a ton of plot or action to keep me entertained. But nothing happens in this book. Like, really and truly NOTHING.
If it had been a short story or even a novella, I probably would have loved it. But it was an incredibly long book in which nothing happens at all. I listened to it all the way through, thinking at some point something would happen and that a point to the book would unveil itself. It doesn't.
The only thing I can think of is that the author was trying to make you understand the game of cricket by writing a book that moves along at roughly the same pace. Which is to say, glacially slow.
PLOT SPOILERS
At first I thought that things would start happening after the wife moves back to England. The protagonist makes new friends, takes up cricket, etc. Nothing happens. Discouraged, I read the plot synopsis, which made me think this would evolve into a murder mystery. It doesn't.
I'll give the writer that the concept was interesting (Nederland, being neither here nor there). Intellectually, I can appreciate the poignancy of the difficult relationship between an estranged husband and wife, the separated but not every truly separated nature of the relationship between adults who share a child. I am intrigued by the outsider position of the perpetual immigrant and his search for "home". I almost gave the book an extra star for that idea alone.
But it's not enough. I feel like the book warrants a two-star rating to warn off other readers. The book doesn't know what it's actually about. Is it about the relationship between the husband and wife? If so, why include the really (REALLY) lengthy details about cricket matches, cricket history, places where people play cricket in NY, and the history of baseball and cricket in the USA? Is it about the relationship between the protagonist and is friend? If so, why include so much excruciating detail about every conversation the husband and wife ever had? And if it's about cricket, then why is half of the book about other things? It's a weird combination of a lot going on and absolutely nothing happening all at the same time.
If it had been a short story or even a novella, I probably would have loved it. But it was an incredibly long book in which nothing happens at all. I listened to it all the way through, thinking at some point something would happen and that a point to the book would unveil itself. It doesn't.
The only thing I can think of is that the author was trying to make you understand the game of cricket by writing a book that moves along at roughly the same pace. Which is to say, glacially slow.
PLOT SPOILERS
At first I thought that things would start happening after the wife moves back to England. The protagonist makes new friends, takes up cricket, etc. Nothing happens. Discouraged, I read the plot synopsis, which made me think this would evolve into a murder mystery. It doesn't.
I'll give the writer that the concept was interesting (Nederland, being neither here nor there). Intellectually, I can appreciate the poignancy of the difficult relationship between an estranged husband and wife, the separated but not every truly separated nature of the relationship between adults who share a child. I am intrigued by the outsider position of the perpetual immigrant and his search for "home". I almost gave the book an extra star for that idea alone.
But it's not enough. I feel like the book warrants a two-star rating to warn off other readers. The book doesn't know what it's actually about. Is it about the relationship between the husband and wife? If so, why include the really (REALLY) lengthy details about cricket matches, cricket history, places where people play cricket in NY, and the history of baseball and cricket in the USA? Is it about the relationship between the protagonist and is friend? If so, why include so much excruciating detail about every conversation the husband and wife ever had? And if it's about cricket, then why is half of the book about other things? It's a weird combination of a lot going on and absolutely nothing happening all at the same time.