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A review by eberico
Netherland by Joseph O'Neill
5.0
How have none of my GoodReads friends read this book?! Go pick it up right now!
In the early part of September, The New Yorker published a series of brief interviews with contributors about their experience with 9/11 - both the event and the aftermath. The final question in each essay asked which piece of work to emerge from 9/11 has had the most lasting impact on their lives, perceptions, etc. Several respondents mentioned Netherland, so I added it to my list.
Netherland isn't about 9/11, but it's constantly there in the background, the hinge-point for the before and after of one man's life. Which isn't to say that 9/11 caused the novel's subsequent events - rather, it was an excuse for a separation, which then sets the narrator adrift in New York, eventually finding himself - literally and figuratively - in a sea of immigrants on the cricket pitch.
One respondent wrote that Netherland "seems to capture with great poignancy that powerful sense that a certain kind of world has slipped away." This summarizes the book better than I possibly can. It's wonderful and wonderfully written, full of sadness and loss and exploration. I couldn't put it down and now that I'm finished, I can't stop thinking about it.
In the early part of September, The New Yorker published a series of brief interviews with contributors about their experience with 9/11 - both the event and the aftermath. The final question in each essay asked which piece of work to emerge from 9/11 has had the most lasting impact on their lives, perceptions, etc. Several respondents mentioned Netherland, so I added it to my list.
Netherland isn't about 9/11, but it's constantly there in the background, the hinge-point for the before and after of one man's life. Which isn't to say that 9/11 caused the novel's subsequent events - rather, it was an excuse for a separation, which then sets the narrator adrift in New York, eventually finding himself - literally and figuratively - in a sea of immigrants on the cricket pitch.
One respondent wrote that Netherland "seems to capture with great poignancy that powerful sense that a certain kind of world has slipped away." This summarizes the book better than I possibly can. It's wonderful and wonderfully written, full of sadness and loss and exploration. I couldn't put it down and now that I'm finished, I can't stop thinking about it.