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Emily's Reviews > The Nix
The Nix
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Abandoned around page 240. I think this book will receive rave reviews - it already has from many readers with great taste, including Cynthia! - but I just couldn't get into it. It reads like a cross between Franzen and The Art of Fielding , a book that I found so pleasantly inoffensive and forgettable that I had to Google its title last week. If you enjoy contemporary fiction that attempts to Say Something About America in the most sweeping, arch, I-got-my-MFA-and-live-in-Brooklyn way, then I think this book will work for you. To be fair, it probably would have worked for me if I had been in the right mood. Alas.
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Lol. Maybe I better skip it then
I"m skipping it just because I hate politically jaded and "p.c." novels. But I understand they are fiction, like most everything else we're being socialized to "believe", so I could probably read it and get some big laughs, but I have better, more productive things to do with my time.
I laughed and nodded at your assessment when I was halfway through The Nix. However, I pressed on and ended up really enjoying it. The book is in need of a much better editor and the Franzen comparison and Very Important Observations are fair. However, the author ends up being much more compassionate/ less cynical than Franzen, the characters become slightly more likable and the story's many moving parts come together well. Not a perfect book but the original construction of a compelling new story sold me in the end.
I agree with Joe. Most pithy description of what I've never quite been able to articulate.
I hate it when I have to abandon even when writing is good.
Emily, I can see why you gave up at 240. I lasted 10 pages longer than that, but gave up after what I thought was a strong start that just turned into boring, reheated Corrections.
Although I was able to power through it, I agree 100% with your assessment, Emily!
Elyse wrote: "I just finished it --and loved it! It rained all week-end --and it was a cozy-page turning book ---I really got into it. --Those 240 pages you read --were some of my favorite parts actually --I lik..."Perhaps I would have liked it better on a rainy day! I really think I just wasn't in the right mood.
Having grown up in Brooklyn, I wouldn't hold that against anyone. And let the record show that Nathan Hill lives in Florida :)
Liza wrote: "Having grown up in Brooklyn, I wouldn't hold that against anyone. And let the record show that Nathan Hill lives in Florida :)"It's spreading!!!!!! :)
I'm at page 30 and starting to dread it.
Vanessa wrote: "I'm at page 30 and starting to dread it."Abort! Abort!!
You made the right decision. I forced my way to the end only to regret not putting this down earlier. A whole lot of padding to tell an ok story
I made it to pg. 350; wish I had stopped when I started skimming.
I made it to p 188 and am about to give up
Very condescending toward the reader! Forced my way through hoping it would redeem itself but... it didn't.
I'm on page he 21 and find no pleasure in the writing, or the story. I guess I'll give it a few more pages. A very tedious start.
I moaned and groaned through the whole thing. My husband kept telling me abandon it but I had already put in too much time - I have a reading challenge to meet! Done and glad it’s over!
This should be a category on Amazon. I would avoid it all costs.