The Nix

This is a very readable yarn about a man, Samuel, whose mother, Faye, walked out when he was a boy. Many, many things happen in this book, some of which we might not need to know about. We're introduced to and spend significant time with characters who serve a minor purpose and then sink out of the story. If the storytelling hadn't been so good, I might not have finished the book. As it was, I enjoyed the read but didn't think it was anything special.

Nix is passionate, sweet, cringeworthy, and full of naïveté.

Remember all the opportunities to make poor choices you've had in your life, especially in youth? Nathan Hill puts those choices under a microscope for two very different characters, mother and son, in Nix.

The main characters are well developed, and the supporting characters get varying degrees of attention. The overwhelming need to know, more than the action, drives this story forward. The book unfolds back and forth in time and from different perspectives. Hill sets the scenes well, giving enough detail so you can fill in a picture in your mind.

This story, which I read because it is a book club book, is outside of my typical fantasy genre, but I would recommend this book to adult readers who enjoy memoir or believable fiction. Warning: There are sexual scenes, and they may be difficult for younger readers.

I would definitely recommend The Nix. You have to be in the mood for something more literary than sit-back-and-enjoy, but overall I thought this book was a well-written piece of art. Everything just fit together so perfectly for me: the writing style, the multiple characters and viewpoints, the nuggets of humor in between the more serious themes...I just really like this one.

For my full review, visit http://www.literaryquicksand.com/2017/12/review-the-nix/

This is not a book I would have been likely to pick up and read without someone pointing me at it, but I'm glad I did.

The Nix is a story primarily about our protagonist, Stephen, and our runner-up protagonist, his mother Faye. Faye left Stephen as a child and we enter the story with Stephen as an adult learning that his mother has made the national news. The book then ranges around time, letting us learn more about both of their lives, from their perspectives as well as a handful of side characters.

To be honest, I struggled a bit to get into this book. Not that the story wasn't interesting, but I think that this author's writing style took me a while to adjust to. Or perhaps his sense of humor and mine don't quite connect (I read more than one review saying this book was funny, but while I could see it being witty/sarcastic/dry humor, it never made me want to laugh).

All that being said, after I got into it I found the story really fascinating (Faye's story even more so than Stephen's) and the last few chapters really wrapped up the story so nicely, I was very satisfied at the end.

Bonus points! The author is from Iowa and large parts of the story take place there - I found the representation extremely well done. Also bonus points if you have interest in 60s counterculture and particularly the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago. Extra bonus points if your family has history in Norway. I also hugely enjoyed the side stories clearly poking fun at World of Warcraft and similar games.

Such a timely read. It's a love letter to introverts facing a post-truth world where the brash bully their way to the prize with a complete disregard for anyone other than themselves. Hill careens wildly about exploring every shiny idea that presents itself as he jumps back and forth from the present to the 1968 Chicago riots, to 1940's Norway; from the Iraq War to online quests. With all these balls in the air he somehow never manages to miss a beat.

It's another debut novel that is filled to overflowing with a lifetime of ideas distilled onto the page. It is a credit to Hill's talent that the book doesn't topple under the sheer mass of ideas, even if it felt like there were some head scratching tangents that keep it from being a complete 5 star book.