A review by taylorfield
Wellness by Nathan Hill

reflective medium-paced
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Long Story Short: It’s 2014, and Jack and Elizabeth have been together since they met in college twenty years ago. As the two juggle parenting, careers, and building their forever home, they struggle with an unthinkable question - are they right for one another? 

Wellness is an exploration of how childhood experiences shape the lives of young adults, how people shift into new versions of themselves as priorities change, and what happens when people just don’t know how to communicate with each other. Nathan Hill has pretty brilliantly crafted a group of characters in a place and time where this kind of story works perfectly - spanning decades of memories, trauma, and best efforts. It manages to be sad, funny, derisive, and touching all at the same time. 

I’ll echo the thoughts of others that a good editor would have had a go at the long-winded, often technical ramblings, which at times feel long just for the sake of being long (the discussion of algorithms and a certain funeral come to mind). With a 9-page bibliography, Wellness is obviously well-researched, but it certainly didn’t *have* to be almost 700 pages. (On that note, one of my favorite quotes is from the bibliography: “This book had many such deep dives.”) Towards the end there were some “coincidences” that felt a bit too on the nose, and this is not a cast of “likable” characters by any means, but overall I can see why it’s so popular. 

I waited 10 weeks after putting this on hold, then another 6 weeks for a second hold when I was only halfway through after my first borrow and couldn’t renew, and I think it says a lot that I was able to pick right back up where I left off, minus a few small details such as Toby’s age. 

Enjoyment: 4/5
Craft: 4/5
Overall: 4/5
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