ŷ������

Reader*,

The Nix is exactly the type of novel I dread reviewing: one that has many good moments, some truly great moments, but is a letdown most consistently.

Though my background is in science and medicine, my heart will always be with the written word. I may not have an extensive academic background in literature, but I do try and make up for it with an avid reading habit, dipping my toes into various styles and genres. So, although I might not be the foremost authority, I think I can pick the good from the bad with relative internal consistency.

It was a surprise, then, that The Nix first astonished me only to leave me frustrated with its monotony. It is also my hope that my suggestion that we read this book as our first book club-by-mail selection has not left you disenchanted with the concept. Indeed, it would perhaps be most interesting if your opinion differed from mine so as to stimulate discussion. But, I digress from an actual critique of the novel in question.

The Nix has a really appealing, and topical, premise: a woman is caught on video attacking a nationalist republican presidential candidate on the campaign trail. Samuel is tapped to write an expose on the mother who abandoned him as a child and her attack on the aforementioned presidential candidate. The dust-jacket sells you on a few other topics that tick the checkboxes for literary fiction award-winner candidates: magical realism, Vietnam War protest, intergenerational family saga, video game culture, and academia.

This hodgepodge of subject matter covered in The Nix earns author Nathan Hill book-selling quotes on the back of his book that are variants of the following:

�� ”Grand in scope, sprawling, Dickensian. An achievement in the field that should be on every serious reader’s shelf.��
�� “Hill pulls from the vast tapestry that has shaped modern America to build a moving novel for the internet age.��
�� “Expansive, yet intimate, The Nix succeeds on every level.��

The scope and subject matter here sure make for an interesting tapestry in theory. However, in practice, the book failed to make this reader feel as if he were reading a cohesive work. Instead, it felt a bit like two or three books stitched together, and unfortunately, Hill leaves easily visible suture lines. He touches on all these different topics, jumping from a scene about the Chicago riots to a, I KID YOU NOT, 10-page sentence about quitting an massive multiplayer online game. Did you enjoy that scene? I was astonished only in that it continued on, page after page, and by the end of it seemed more a cute experiment than something that added something to the main thrust of the book.

But therein lies another problem: I’m not really sure what The Nix is trying to say. That in and of itself is not a problem: I love a book that makes me think, reflect, and even reread in order to grasp a message. However, the threads, plotlines, and diversions in The Nix muddled the meaning Hill tries to establish through his two main characters: Samuel and his mother, Faye.

At first I was compelled by kind-of-loser Samuel’s frustrations with his professorial career and the biting satire of today’s university atmosphere. For the first 100 pages or so, the book had me and I would have gladly continued on with satire of the election, university, and activism. Even though a few of these characters (namely, Laura Pottsdam) seem to be such gross caricatures that they sometimes butt against the realism of the novel.

Speaking frankly, the flashbacks to Samuel’s childhood and Faye’s coming of age didn’t do anything for me. They always seemed like diversions from the main story and it felt like Hill wanted to play around a bit in the late 60s with some different viewpoints. Of course, there’s some parallels drawn between the 1968 Chicago Vietnam War protests and the Occupy Movement/SJWs, which I enjoyed but didn’t seem fully developed. I’ll admit that I can’t quite put my finger on the message Hill’s trying to convey, but hopefully you’ve got some thoughts to bounce back and forth between us.

With all of that said, there’s quite a lot I enjoyed in this book. There were paragraphs and passages that really impressed me throughout the read. Sentences that made me stop and go, Man, this guy’s got chops! Of course, finding these passages were rare treats amidst the drudgery of long passages where the characters spend a long time analyzing their thoughts, actions, and potential actions. Toward the book’s end I enjoyed the scenes set in Norway and, indeed, these scenes are the ones that rang most true to me.

For what has been a mostly negative review, I would easily pick up another book written by Hill. As I said before, the man can write, but The Nix loses focus so often that it doesn’t make for a tale that compelled me the whole way through. It is my hope that Hill will write something a bit shorter, a bit more focused, and tackle a few topics rather than a grocery list.

I’m really interested to hear what you thought of this one. I’ve read a few other reviews and I definitely seem to be in the minority. I’ll also confess to an exceptionally busy rotation that forced me to consume this book piecemeal, which might not be the best way to have handled it. The Nix is a book that I wouldn’t recommend to others, but was easily sold to me. I'm sure it'll be a contender for many awards this year and I wish it had done more for me.

Also, Samuel’s kind of a turd, didn’t you think?

Cheers,
Matt

*This review was written as a letter to my good friend, Grant Carson, as we embark upon a semi-regular book-club by distance.