Netherland: A Novel
by Joseph O'Neill
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Book Summary Information
Author: Joseph O'NeillEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-05-20
ISBN: 0307377040
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Pantheon
Book Reviews of Netherland: A Novel
Book Review: Hans and Rachel
Summary: 4 Stars
Rachel, a lawyer, is unhappy in her marriage with Hans, an analyst at an investment bank. And so, the couple separates, with Rachel returning to London with Jake, their young son. While Hans visits his wife and son twice monthly, he spends most of his time alone in New York. He is depressed. He has no real friends.
In this life of isolation, Hans makes a serendipitous connection to the cricket community in New York, where he meets Chuck R., a naturalized citizen from the Caribbean. In this shabby new world of immigrant cricketers, Hans slowly develops a sense of community, where his new peers are the Pakistani guy who works at a gas station or the Hindu who drives a cab. Meanwhile, Chuck presents to Hans an image of entrepreneurial striving, which has qualities that are both inspiring and sleazy. Slowly, the world that grows from this cricket connection begins to exert its power on Hans. Then, he has a moment-of-truth and decides to return to London, resolving to win back his family.
In telling this story, O'Neill offers patches of writing that are wonderfully poetic. Perhaps, the best examples were presented in THE NEW YORKER review of NETHERLAND, which was written by the overpraising James Wood (author of HOW FICTION WORKS). At the same time, O'Neill is far from a flawless writer. He can, for example, be melodramatic:
"A hooting sob rose up from my chest. I began to gulp and pant. A deep and useless shame filled me--shame that I had failed my wife and son, shame that I lacked the means to fight on, to tell her that I refused to accept that our marriage had suddenly collapsed..."
And his prose occasionally verges on clunky.
"Rain spotted my window as we pulled away into the tunnels and gorges through which the Penn Station trains secretively dribble up the West Side."
Readers that find the greatest pleasure in NETHERLAND will be those interested in the marriage of Hans and Rachel. Those looking for a book about 9/11 will be disappointed, since the problems in this marriage preceded 9/11 and evolved without real connection to this horrible event. This, in fact, is something that O'Neill himself wryly acknowledges, with Hans identifying early in this novel the level where NETHERLAND truly operates. "All lives, I remember thinking, eventually funnel into the advice columns of women's magazines."
One final point: There are minor mistakes in this book that drove me crazy. Hans, for example, wouldn't work in a cubicle. (He's the fourth rated analyst in his specialty, according to INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS. This means his recommendations bring in big bucks and he gets an office.) Hans and Rachel taxi to Riverdale from the West Side using Broadway? Nope, they'd use the Henry Hudson. An investment banker and lawyer move into the Chelsea Hotel with their wee child after 9/11? NO WAY! (Go to Wikipedia and you'll see what I mean. This is not the place Yuppies go to recover from trauma.) And in Central Park, you'll never find Sheep's Meadow. But the Sheep Meadow is near Tavern on the Green.
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