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Part Nine, and the chapters have gotten dinky. You know some shit is going down. But what? Rioters vs. National Guard snipers? A slaughterhouse copro-mountain unleashing a methane bomb on DNC delegates? A spurned "pig" going ballistic? Or is it the dreaded nisse/nix, paying a visit to Chicago? Gonna find out soon, I'm sure.

Was that a 13 page-long sentence? Why yes, I believe it was. Okay, that maybe wasn't one of Hill's finest literary moments in what has been up until now a consistently enjoyable reading experience, but still: pretty great (if overly obvious) indictment of the MMORPG world.

Baseball fans: The connections are tenuous at best, but The Nix's Samuel is a Chicago Cubs fan, though his Elfquest username is 'Dodger'. IRL, last night perennial doormats the Cubs beat my Dodgers to go to the World Series for the first time since 1945. No one cares but me, but neat coincidence. (Grudgingly,) Go Cubs!

Okay, so "You Can Get The Girl!", Hill's Choose Your Own Adventure intermezzo, may not be the most novel of novel choices (after all, NPH modelled his entire autobiography after the series) but wow, what a way to set the stage for the second half of the book. Go Samuel!

Poor Samuel:

"At college, at Juilliard, the "Love you" at the end of (Bethany's) correspondence switches quickly to "Love ya," which stings. "Love ya" seems to be what happens to real love when its formality and dignity are amputated."

Duh, big difference between page 23 and 23% (my last update). And, with a ginormous book like The Nix, even the difference beteeen 23% and 25% (or the break between Parts Two and Three, where I'm really at now) is huge. What a pivotal scene! Can I finish this tonight? Only 500 pages and 8 parts to go...no problem.

I doubt Nathan Hill's going to garner kudos frim the fussy Strunk & White contingent, but from me? Thus far, I'm loving this. Hope this doesn't turn out to be another City on Fire with the bottom dropping out 60% through. I'm feeling optimistic.