The Nix
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
The dazzling New York Times bestseller
"Nathan Hill is a maestro" John Irving
"Sparkling, sweeping debut novel that takes in a large swath of recent American history and pop culture ... A grand entertainment" Kirkus
Meet Samuel Andresen-Anderson - stalled writer, bored teacher at a local college, obsessive player of online video games. He hasn't seen his mother, Faye, in decades, not since she abandoned her family when he was a boy. Now she has suddenly reappeared, having committed an absurd politically-motivated crime that electrifies the nightly news, beguiles the Internet, and inflames a divided country. The media paints Faye as a radical hippie with a sordid past, but as far as Samuel knows, his mother was an ordinary girl who married her high school sweetheart. Which version of his mother is true? Two facts are certain - she's facing some serious charges, and she needs Samuel's help.
As Samuel begins to excavate his mother's - and his country's - history, the story moves from the rural Midwest of the 1960s, to New York City during the Great Recession and the Occupy Wall Street movement, and back to the infamous riots at the 1968 Chicago Democratic National Convention. Finally, the trail leads him to wartime Norway, home of the mysterious Nix that his mother told him about as a child, a spirit that can take the shape of a white horse, luring children to their deaths. And in these places, Samuel will unexpectedly find that he has to rethink everything he ever knew about his mother - a woman with an epic story of her own, a story she has kept hidden from the world.
PRAISE FOR THE NIX
"The Nix will go down as one of the best debut books of the year." Dallas Morning News
"Hill skillfully blends humor and darkness, imagery and observation. ... [a] rich, lively take on American social conflict, real and invented, over the last half-century." Publishers Weekly
"This looks to be the debut of an important new writer, able to variously make readers laugh out loud while providing a melancholy, resonant tale." USA Today
"Pay attention. This is what a Great American Novel looks like. ... Nathan Hill is a literary powerhouse who will deservedly earn many comparisons to John Irving and Jonathan Franzen." Benjamin Percy, author of Red Moon and The Wilding
"Once in a while a novel arrives at the perfect moment to reflect, skewer, and provide context for the world as we know it. This-now-is that novel." Christina Baker Kline, author of Orphan Train
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hill's first novel offers an ironic view of 21st-century elections, education, pop culture, and marketing, with flashbacks to 1988, 1968, and 1944. The action begins in 2011, when Samuel Anderson, an English professor who prefers playing World of Elfquest online to teaching Hamlet to college students, learns that Faye, the mother who abandoned him when he was 11, has been arrested for throwing stones at flamboyant ultraconservative presidential candidate Sheldon Packer. News media repeatedly show Faye's photo from her young hippie days along with a video of the attack. In an attempt to help his mother and himself, Samuel digs into Faye's past, focusing on the Iowa town where she grew up and 1968 Chicago, where she unwittingly became caught between protesters and police. Samuel's search with assistance from Pwnage, an Elfquest savant uncovers a judge with a 50-year-old grudge, a grandfather with a 70-year-old secret, and a world where the official story and the truth often diverge. The Nix of Hill's title is a Norwegian mythological being that carries loved ones away, a physical and metaphorical representation of fear and loss, much like the Under Toad in John Irving's The World According to Garp. Like Irving, Hill skillfully blends humor and darkness, imagery and observation. He also excels at describing technology, addiction, cultural milestones, and childhood ordeals. Cameos by Allen Ginsberg, Walter Cronkite, and Hubert Humphrey add heart and perspective to this rich, lively take on American social conflict, real and invented, over the last half-century. 100,000-copy announced first printing.
