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lindseay 's review for:

Netherland by Joseph O'Neill
4.0

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.