Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “The Nix” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Read Book

The Nix

Nathan Hill

4.06 · Rating details · 64,545 ratings · 7,753 reviews

A hilarious and deeply touching debut novel about a son, the mother who left him as a child, and how his search to uncover the secrets of her life leads him to reclaim his own.

Meet Samuel Andresen-Anderson: stalled writer, bored teacher at a local college, obsessive player of an online video game. He hasn't seen his mother, Faye, since she walked out when he was a child. B ...more

Get A Copy

Hardcover, 640 pages

Published August 30th 2016 by Knopf

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about The Nix, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Goodreads Picks for Tournament of Books 2017

512 books — 2,151 voters

Man Booker Prize Eligible 2017

178 books — 237 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 4.06 ·

Rating details

· 64,545 ratings · 7,753 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of The Nix

Nov 21, 2016 Elyse Walters rated it it was amazing

Shelves: humor, politics, literary-fiction, family-relationships

Update news.. exciting: Meryl Streep is going to star and produce "The Nix" mini series with JJ Abrams!!!!!

All I knew about "The Nix" before I started reading my 625 page physical book, was the 'few' things I heard, ( "GOOD", "GREAT", "TERRIFIC WRITING", "SIMILAR to JONATHAN FRANZEN"......all of which I agree by the way), but I purposely have not read reviews-yet. I'm tempted to now....but I'll wait -- enjoy what other readers have to say soon.
Not one person told me how incredibly ENJOYABLE the ...more

flag 420 likes · Like · see review

Dec 08, 2016 Will Byrnes rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-of-the-year-2016, historical-fiction, literary-fiction, fiction, satire

Picking out a quote to open a review of The Nix is no small undertaking. There are so many from which to choose. So I am just tossing this small selection out there up front. Feel free to choose your own opening quote.

”…when all you have is the memory of a thing,” she said, “all you can think about is how the thing is gone.”

The things you love the most will one day hurt you the worst.

…given enough time, any weight can become too much to bear

..despite what the newspapers said, it was not the

...more

flag 411 likes · Like · see review

Apr 19, 2017 Brian Michels rated it it was amazing

I'm not a huge fan of long novels. This one, however, was without a doubt worth the time.

Mother and son over the long haul, Faye and Samuel - a great unfolding and refolding of their relationship. Seriously talented storytelling at play here. Samuel, an oddly compelling and sympathetic character, a teacher struggling to get his act together. Faye, a woman somewhat off the wall for decades for good reasons and bad, an agent of cultural change with vexed measure of responsibility. There are a numb ...more

flag 258 likes · Like · see review

May 25, 2016 Cynthia Shannon rated it it was amazing

Guys: I know it's early but I'm going to proclaim this the best book I've read this year. I'm not kidding. I was sucked into this book from the first few pages, and couldn't put it down (at 600 pages, it was quite the arm exercise). Characters are all believably flawed without being dumb, the storyline makes sense, it all gets wrapped up at the end but leaves some questions unanswered (so we can talk about them in book club, weee!). The writing is superb. Lots of different styles, which normall ...more

flag 201 likes · Like · see review

Mar 25, 2017 Matthew Quann rated it it was ok

Shelves: big-books-500-pages-plus

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 g ...more

flag 179 likes · Like · see review

Dec 02, 2016 Justin rated it it was amazing

Update: This book deserves five stars. It's fantastic. Read it. Ignore the math below.

Well, Goodreaders, remember that time over the summer when I cheated on my library and found a smaller, closer library in a nearby town? Yeah, that's still going on. See my review of The Green Mile for more details, but things are going very well between us. So far I've picked up The Green Mile, Rabbit Run, and The Nix from this new library of mine, and those three books are some of my favorite reads of the ye Update: This book deserves five stars. It's fantastic. Read it. Ignore the math below.

Well, Goodreaders, remember that time over the summer when I cheated on my library and found a smaller, closer library in a nearby town? Yeah, that's still going on. See my review of The Green Mile for more details, but things are going very well between us. So far I've picked up The Green Mile, Rabbit Run, and The Nix from this new library of mine, and those three books are some of my favorite reads of the year. My ratings for these books average 4.66666 six six six six six repeating. Very impressive, especially for an overly critical reviewer like me.

Anyway, I was skeptical of this book from the very beginning since it kept showing up in my feed as a sponsored book. Over and over and over again. And those big colorful letters, I just couldn't help but recognize it in the library. The giant font and colors on the spine screamed at me from the shelf. I saw it and thought about how I keep seeing it everywhere and so I immediately felt like it couldn't be that great. If it were so awesome why does Goodreads have to keep marketing it to me? But those bright colors, man. I couldn't resist.

So I grab the book and rush over to check out. I got home and I started wondering why I even picked it up. The plot seemed interesting, but I'm not really a 600+ page book kinda guy. I like books to be about half that size. But then I started reading and I got sucked into the story right away. I was knocking out dozens of pages without even thinking about it. I put it down for a few days and came back to it and couldn't put it down again. Now that I've finished it, I'm missing the characters I spent so much time with throughout this journey.

And what a journey is was! It bounces around to different characters and time periods with pretty short chapters that keep the pages turning. This guy is hilarious, too, with some chapters making me laugh out loud... I'm looking at you Pwnage. Yep, he's a character in this crazy story. So much happens in the book and the author goes on some tangents at times that pull away from he main plot, but it's all so fun to read. At times I was bummed because I got to a new section and had to go back in time again, but those sections were just as engaging and fun to read.

It's pretty impressive that this is Hill's first book. He definitely has the formula down and can weave a fantastic story together. I'm really looking forward to seeing what else this guy can do. He made me a believer with just a few pages. I'm telling you, this story is gonna stick with you. If you are a hippie, War protestor, online gaming enthusiast, professor, college student, musician, trouble maker, publisher, liberal, or just a regular person who loves a great story with lots of humor, this is a book you need to read soon.

Don't throw rocks at politicians. ...more

flag 180 likes · Like · see review

Dec 27, 2016 Paromjit rated it it was amazing

Shelves: literary-fiction, netgalley

This is a smart and terrific novel that packs one hell of a punch. It is a sprawling and intricate puzzle that goes back and forth in time to eventually make sense. It is a satire of the politics and media with timely observations and insights of the state of the nation captured in a clever and astute manner. There is the dissection of the lives of Sam, his mother, Faye and other characters. The eponymous Nix is Norwegian in origin, a metaphor, a tricky house spirit/ghost/white horse that is eas This is a smart and terrific novel that packs one hell of a punch. It is a sprawling and intricate puzzle that goes back and forth in time to eventually make sense. It is a satire of the politics and media with timely observations and insights of the state of the nation captured in a clever and astute manner. There is the dissection of the lives of Sam, his mother, Faye and other characters. The eponymous Nix is Norwegian in origin, a metaphor, a tricky house spirit/ghost/white horse that is easily offended and proceeds to curse and destroy your entire life.

In 2011, Sam is a video games junkie and a washed up literature professor in a mediocre Chicago college. He has failed to produce a book for which his publisher, Guy Periwinkle, issued a significant advance. His mother, Faye, left the family when he was a young boy. Faye is now a teaching assistant who throws a rock at repulsive, right wing, Wyoming politician, Sheldon Parker in Grant Park, Chicago and refers to him as 'You pig'. This incident is an internet sensation and the media go into overdrive labelling Faye a prostitute and terrorist. A bitter Sam reconnects with Faye which propels him to delve into her life. We learn more about Sam's life and a more human picture emerges of Sam and Faye. It turns out they have much in common. We have the ongoing saga of Sam and the off the rails Laura, a plagiarist student, who will do anything to escape the consequences of her actions.

There are many perspectives given and multiple twists. Short chapters keep the story moving and the reader absorbed in the book. More than anything it is the wonderful characters that drive the story. It is a novel with big ideas and themes. There is family conflict and secrets and it hones in on the idea of how we see ourselves. It touches on relationships, trust and loyalty with friends, lovers, parents and children. It is cynical, full of intrigue and has plentiful humour. A fantastic story that captures the US in its current state so well. For me, it is an irresistable and brilliant read. Highly recommended. Thanks to Pan MacMillan for an ARC.

...more

flag 163 likes · Like · see review

Mar 31, 2017 Steve rated it really liked it

First off, a confession. I took a quick look at Nathan Hill’s photo and immediately thought: young guy, kind of a bro, probably pretty full of himself. And when I learned this was his first novel – a long one at that – I figured on narrative sprawl and other excesses. Would he be judicious enough to drop weaker scenes? Could he bear eliminating superfluous modifiers? Would every perceived insight seem indispensable? But the book was producing a buzz, one Santa figured would suit me. I’m glad. It First off, a confession. I took a quick look at Nathan Hill’s photo and immediately thought: young guy, kind of a bro, probably pretty full of himself. And when I learned this was his first novel – a long one at that – I figured on narrative sprawl and other excesses. Would he be judicious enough to drop weaker scenes? Could he bear eliminating superfluous modifiers? Would every perceived insight seem indispensable? But the book was producing a buzz, one Santa figured would suit me. I’m glad. It was clear early on that Hill would breathe real life into his characters. He’d be thorough, but not boring. He’d span quite a few years, mostly 1968, 1988, and 2011, doing enough homework to get the details of each setting right. I was especially impressed by his account of Daley cops thumping heads in ’68. And those insights I was afraid he might overvalue? They turned out to be genuine, even vital.

The plot is hard to summarize so I’ll just touch on the highlights. Samuel Andresen-Anderson is a failed writer in his 30s teaching English at a liberal arts school near Chicago. He’s getting more disenchanted by the year. His solace is an online role-playing game called World of Elfscape, though as solaces go, it’s a hollow one. Much of his angst stemmed from childhood when his mother abandoned him. A more immediate problem is a student he caught plagiarizing – one talented at working the system, meaning more trouble for him than for her. (My wife who used to be in academics got a jolt of déjà vu from this section.) Then there’s news of his mom. National news. She had been arrested for throwing gravel (or rocks, depending on who’s reporting it), at some reactionary, nut-job politician. Faye (his mom) was suddenly back in his life. The news teams were quick to find photos of Faye among the protesters in Chicago in ’68, all unbeknownst to Samuel. He had thought she’d lived a quiet life in Iowa, marrying her high school sweetheart soon after graduating. Now she needs help that he’s wary of giving.

That’s the launching pad. The plot shoots off in multiple directions from there, much of it backwards in time. Among other things, you get a boyhood friend into war games, the friends’ twin sister (a violin virtuoso and object of Samuel’s devotion), Faye’s undeserved miseries growing up, her father’s story dating back to his youth in Norway, Samuel’s gaming friend with an online addiction that’s plausible and scary, and Samuel’s literary agent who has his finger on the pulse of a nation replete with schlock, cynicism, and sanctimony. Oh, and I almost forgot. You get the Nix. This is a kind of house spirit that means different things to different people. I thought of it as combination of folklore and conscience, prejudicially deciding whether you deserved a pat on the back or a boot in the pants. Young Faye’s was quick to accuse and slow to let go.

It’s a big, multi-themed book that some have labelled a mess. But in my mind the ambition paid off. For a while, I’ll admit, I felt like certain sentences could have been honed. For instance, when you read that “she was accommodating, docile, self-effacing, compliant, easy to get along with,” does it feel like the thesaurus was overworked, drained, exhausted, worn out? That feeling of excess soon went away, though. I’d lost myself in the story and thought not a whit about style.

I’m sure I’m not the first person to notice a recent reviewing phenomenon where any societal ill that a book tackles is interpreted with orange-colored glasses. That Trumpian tincture now shades everything, it seems. We may well expect to hear how frightening and dire the darkness to come will be in Goodnight Moon given the looming shadows of the current administration. Even so, I feel like the applicability in this case is worth mentioning. Hill finished writing The Nix in 2014, a time when real estate and reality TV were enough to sustain Trump’s ego. While it may not seem as remarkable as Sinclair Lewis’s It Can’t Happen Here, Hill’s preconceptions do seem uncanny. His Republican presidential hopeful was an anti-elitist, anti-immigration demagogue, not above "callously milking this minor distraction (Faye’s gravel) for all it's worth." (Or was he "bravely continuing his campaign despite tremendous personal risk?" It depended on the cable news personality doing the reporting.) And how about this quote by Samuel’s agent for describing a balky electorate? "...it's way easier to ignore all data that doesn't fit your preconceptions and believe all data that does. I believe what I believe, and you believe what you believe, and we'll agree to disagree. It's liberal tolerance meets dark ages denialism. It's very hip right now."

As for the assortment of other themes, Hill had plenty of thoughts covering those, too. Samuel’s aforementioned agent was entertaining as he attempted to justify commercialism in the arts. Selling out is honest when your stated goal is financial success (or something to that effect). Then there was a mini-motif on the vacuity of social media. The plagiarizing student had an app that allowed her to state which among a predefined set of emotions she was feeling. Friends could then respond accordingly with a feeling of their own, presumably something like “glad you’re happy” or “sorry you’re sad.” For convenience, there was an auto-response mode where the app would choose reactions for you. I’m sure I’m not the only one who would want an option for feeling cynical. Samuel’s gaming buddy, Pwnage, gave Hill a chance to expand on yet another theme: the perils of online addiction. (Hill said he had once been a World of Warcraft junkie, enough so to know the type.) The alternate realities can impinge on the primary ones pretty easily when you like your avatar better than yourself.

Pwnage did offer Samuel some useful advice from his gaming experience. He would approach each problem as either a trap, an obstacle, or a puzzle. Applying this to people, Samuel figured “if you see people as enemies or obstacles or traps, you will be at constant war with them and with yourself. Whereas if you choose to see people as puzzles, and if you see yourself as a puzzle, then you will be constantly delighted, because eventually, if you dig deep enough into anybody, if you really look under the hood of someone's life, you will find something familiar.” This homage to empathy reverberated. In fact, had this willingness to dig into each character been Hill’s only accomplishment, it still would have been quite a book. On top of that, though, we get top-notch storytelling, some strong commentary, a bit of fun and entertainment, and maybe enough hope for the future that even those wearing orange-colored glasses may feel encouraged.

I’m giving this a very solid 4.5 stars. Evidently J.J. Abrams really liked it, too, since he now has the TV rights to produce it. What’s more, Meryl Streep has signed on to play Faye. But hey, Goodreading friends, do read the book first. ...more

flag 156 likes · Like · see review

Apr 27, 2017 Jennifer Masterson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017, audio

I listened to the audio version of The Nix. Right now I'm at 4 stars but if the novel sticks with me I might bump it up to 4 1/2. This is a great audiobook but not a perfect book. I know people are comparing this to The Goldfinch, and I get that, but I don't think the writing was as sophisticated as Tartt's book.

It took me two tries with this novel. I will say that if you are going to read or listen to it, make the time for no long stretch stops. That's what I did the first time and I couldn't ...more

flag 142 likes · Like · see review

Jan 19, 2017 Andrew Smith rated it it was amazing

Shelves: netgalley

I’d glanced at ratings for this book - uniformly four or five stars from my book reading friends - and had read enough of the accompanying commentaries to know that this was a big book, at over 600 pages, covering a lump of time from the late 1960’s onward. I’d also gleaned that it was a family saga, with some political history thrown in for good measure. All good so far. What I’d no doubt have discovered if I’d dug a little deeper is that this book is brilliantly written in a style that reminde I’d glanced at ratings for this book - uniformly four or five stars from my book reading friends - and had read enough of the accompanying commentaries to know that this was a big book, at over 600 pages, covering a lump of time from the late 1960’s onward. I’d also gleaned that it was a family saga, with some political history thrown in for good measure. All good so far. What I’d no doubt have discovered if I’d dug a little deeper is that this book is brilliantly written in a style that reminded me of esteemed pensmiths such as Donna Tartt and Tom Wolfe. It also includes a wry and often hilarious look at how social media and online gaming have gainined such a foothold in the lives of so many people in the 21st Century.

It’s a book that jumps back and forth in time. Early on we meet an eleven-year-old Samuel (Sam) Andresen-Anderson, a boy who cries a good deal. He is befriended by Bishop, a similarly aged, confident boy from his neighbourhood who already has career ambitions to be a soldier. Bishop introduces Sam to Bethany, his twin sister. Sam is instantly entranced by Bethany. The first major trauma in Sam’s life has already been signalled in the opening of the book but now it’s acted out in full: his mother, having clearly planned her escape in advance, walks away from the family home, never to return. Later the loose ends left by these early encounters and events will be fleshed out – deliciously so.

As the story plays forward we see that Sam has become an English literature professor and is having problems with one of his students. Laura Pottsdam decided some time ago that cheating her way to a degree is the way to go and she’s not happy that Sam has rumbled the fact that her latest paper is an act of pure plagiarism. Sam really is too busy keeping up with her vast array of acquaintances on the social network iFeel to have time to actually research and write a paper of her own. Not one to bow down to authority, Laura will find a way of combatting her professor’s annoying accusation, that's for sure.

Sam is very much the lead character here and it’s through him we continue to meet the rest of the cast, even as we start to realise what a mess his life really is. It would appear that as an aspiring writer he managed to secure a substantial advance for a book he has yet to write. The money is, of course, already spent and the publisher is now demanding the return of the lucre. To add to Sam’s woes, he has no woman in his life and all his non-working time is entirely taken up by his addiction to an on-line game called World of Elfscape (easily identified as a close cousin of a certain ever expanding game my nineteen-year-old son seems similarly addicted to!) We will spend quite a bit of time in Word of Elsfscape, where we will also meet ‘Pwnage’ the game name for a fellow gaming addict and acknowledged master Eflscape raider – and probably my favourite character of all.

I’m not giving much away here as all these events occur very early on. From this point the fractured narrative takes us on a big ride through the decades as major events unfold, questions are asked and answered and the lives of our characters are lived. It’s a truly spectacular piece of fiction. The novel mixes serious observation on real events (though the author has confessed he took some liberties with the fine detail), deep personal tragedy and absolute hilarity. And it does all of this brilliantly well, whilst telling a complex and compelling story that kept me glued to the text throughout.

If I were looking for a criticism, it might be that there are some sections that do jabber on a bit. Could some passages have been selectively pruned? Well yes, but I’m not sure that this would have improved the book, in fact I think it would have been to its overall detriment. I believe these rambles are part of the soul of this piece. The writing is top drawer and each character and each event has its place in the overall puzzle. At no point did I become lost in the maze or bored by a particular character or switched off by a protracted rant – it all fits together, it’s all part of the overall prize. Reading this book was a wonderful adventure and I’m really sad I’ll not be waking up tomorrow to eagerly gobble up the next chapter or two. I already miss it.

My sincere thanks to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for providing an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ...more

flag 128 likes · Like · see review

Sep 18, 2016 Cheri rated it it was amazing

Shelves: debut-novel, library-book, 2017

Professor of English Samuel Andreson-Anderson's mother abandoned him when he was 11 years old – it has become an event that will continue to mark all of his days.

It had never occurred to him before that he could not stop. Everyone stopped. But in the face of his mother’s goneness, all the world’s normal rules fell away. If she could leave, why couldn’t he? So he did. He walked away and was surprised how easy it was. He walked along the sidewalk, didn’t even attempt to run or hide. He walked in Professor of English Samuel Andreson-Anderson's mother abandoned him when he was 11 years old – it has become an event that will continue to mark all of his days.

It had never occurred to him before that he could not stop. Everyone stopped. But in the face of his mother’s goneness, all the world’s normal rules fell away. If she could leave, why couldn’t he? So he did. He walked away and was surprised how easy it was. He walked along the sidewalk, didn’t even attempt to run or hide. He walked in plain view and nobody stopped him. Nobody said a word. He floated away. It was a whole new reality.

But Professor Samuel Andreson-Anderson, Sam, really has nothing in his current life to run to, either. He should be working on his new book, but can’t recall the last time he really thought about it except in the way that one acknowledges those pesky thoughts that have a way of invading now and then. Reminders that he’s been paid an advance for a book he hasn’t written, hasn’t really worked on much lately. He goes to work at the University where he teaches twice a week, and that’s about all he does lately. That is, unless you count his online gaming life, Elfscape, where he goes to escape his real-life problems.

What kept people where they were, in their normal orbits? Nothing, he realized for the first time. There was nothing to stop anyone from, on any given day, vanishing.

It’s after one of these escapades when he finds out that his mother, after all these years, is now on the news. She’s the new “it” news, after she’s caught on video throwing rocks / stones / pebbles at a maybe-prospective Presidential candidate. And to add more emotionally draining news to that, the publisher that paid him that big advance? Now they want him to return it… or else, maybe, write a book about the woman the news is now calling “The Packer Attacker.” His mother. The woman he’s blocked from his thoughts for most of his life by now.

Time heals many things because it sets us on trajectories that make the past seem impossible.

A journey ensues, to visit her first, and then to try and reconstruct her life, his parent’s early lives, meeting people she knew in the brief time she lived in Chicago, the year she left their her home town, her parents’ home town, for college. A period of time, a particularly epic historical period of time, that changed her, formed her into a young woman who would never again be the girl who left home to live in Chicago.

There are, ultimately, numerous detours in this journey, sometimes it may feel as though you’ve opened one too many doors in the Winchester Mystery House, an extravagant maze of a mansion known for its size, its curiosities and an apparent lack of a master building plan. However, The Nix most assuredly, does have a “master building plan” - it’s just not always apparent when you find yourself pondering where and when the exit will appear.

As a debut novel, especially, this is astoundingly good, entertaining, appealing to several generations and spanning multiple genres: fairy-tales / folk tales, choose-your-own-adventures, family-relationships, politics, government, corruption, war, humour, historical fiction, gaming, social media, sexual abuse, the “sexual revolution,” police brutality and, ultimately, the impact that the years of our youth, friends, missing parents, have in forming the adults we, hopefully, eventually, become.

Recommended
...more

flag 127 likes · Like · see review

Apr 25, 2017 Matt rated it it was amazing

Shelves: literary-fiction, contemporary-fiction

"Seeing ourselves clearly is the project of a lifetime."
- Nathan Hill, The Nix

Even though I don’t read a ton of contemporary fiction, I do a pretty good job of knowing what’s out there. In fact, I spend roughly as much time reading about reading as I do actually reading. And I have the sagging bookshelves of yet-to-be-read titles to prove it. Based on what I’d read about Nathan Hill’s The Nix, I had a single thought: nope. Everything about it is everything I don’t like in literature.

A lengthy n ...more

flag 125 likes · Like · see review

Apr 12, 2020 Amalia Gkavea rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: literary-fiction, 1960s, american-literature, magical-realism, 20th-century, contemporary, favorites, usa, historical-fiction, chicago

''Αnd he used the ghost stories his mother told him, all those old Norwegian stories that terrified him. He wrote about a white horse that appeared suddenly, offering a ride, and if the reader decided to mount the horse, terrible death quickly followed. In another ending, the reader becomes a ghost trapped inside of a leaf, too bad to go to heaven, too good to go to hell.''

Samuel is a quiet, charismatic young professor, condemned to teach the beautiful subject of Literature to an audience of ...more

flag 123 likes · Like · see review

Sep 19, 2018 Theresa Alan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Wow. It has been a long time since a novel has blown my mind. The writing in this book is astonishingly, staggeringly good. Plus, I chuckled out loud throughout the story. It's funny and a little sad, both. Part of the sad part was being reminded of how women and protesters were treated in 60s, not that everything has changed by any stretch of the imagination.

Samuel deals with cheating, apathetic students at the university where he teaches intro to lit to pay the mortgage, but to escape reality ...more

flag 119 likes · Like · see review

Aug 27, 2016 Maxwell rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Maxwell by: Amerie

Shelves: owned

I went into The Nix with absolutely no preconceptions. It was recommended to me by my friend Ameriie, with whom I share a pretty similar reading taste. So I got my hands on a copy, and the rest is history.

What Nathan Hill is able to accomplish in this novel—please note that this is his debut novel!—is something many strive for and fall short of. It's a sweeping story of family, love (romantic and platonic), betrayal, debts, and abandonment. It covers decades and a multitude of characters and fli I went into The Nix with absolutely no preconceptions. It was recommended to me by my friend Ameriie, with whom I share a pretty similar reading taste. So I got my hands on a copy, and the rest is history.

What Nathan Hill is able to accomplish in this novel—please note that this is his debut novel!—is something many strive for and fall short of. It's a sweeping story of family, love (romantic and platonic), betrayal, debts, and abandonment. It covers decades and a multitude of characters and flips back and forth between them all. And yet it never feels convoluted or messy or hard to follow. Our main character, Samuel Andresen-Anderson, is the thread that ties it all together as he searches for answers about his mother's past while dealing with his own issues from childhood and concurrent difficulties he faces as an adult. It's ambitious. And I loved it.

The best I can compare it to is The Goldfinch, which is a book that holds a special place in my heart for a variety of reasons. But something I can't express is the feelings these two books gave me while reading them and left me with after the last pages were turned. They both have this special quality to them—in the writing, characters, themes, and execution—that, in my eyes, puts them above other literary fiction novels I normally read. It's an inexplicable something that nestles in your brain and makes its way down to your heart, and by the end you are totally invested and never want the story to end.

I also loved the image of the nix and how that came back throughout the story. Such a clever device that holds so much meaning and propels the story forward. Hill is a master!

Before this devolves into a ramble about how much I love this book, I'll end the review by saying that it's best going into this book with little knowledge of the subject matter. Take a risk and pick it up if you are into books with a lot of heart, history, and hope—and books that you will need to talk with people about once you finish them! ...more

flag 107 likes · Like · see review

Apr 23, 2017 Matthew rated it really liked it

Shelves: gr_awards_2016, book-a-book-club, 2017, library

"Sometimes we're so wrapped up in our own story that we don't see how we're supporting characters in someone else's."

4 Stars for storytelling
3 Stars for plot

Rounding to 4 because I enjoyed the experience.

The story and the writing in this book were very entertaining. I was enthralled the entire way through. The style changed from time to time which was interesting and showed the skill of the author.

I heard some commentary about this book saying that it is a bit dark and cynical which can make it ...more

flag 109 likes · Like · see review

Feb 22, 2017 Liz rated it really liked it

Shelves: netgalley

I don't know if everyone will find this book as funny as I did. But to me, scenes were laugh out loud funny. When Laura gives all her excuses she shouldn't be failed for turning in a 99% plagiarized paper, I was beside myself. Professor Sam Anderson is a grammar nerd, so I immediately bonded with him, other than all the crying. Stuck teaching English literature to kids that don't care at a second rate college, he finds enjoyment playing online Elfin war games.

The story veers between 2011 when S ...more

flag 100 likes · Like · see review

Jun 12, 2018 Richard rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: current-lit-us

I love books like The Nix!
Big contemporary novels (often American) bursting with incident, incisively drawn characters, myriad relationships, contentious politics and a mysterious, slowly revealed story that brings it all together.
The Nix is very funny, very moving, snappy and fizzing with ideas.
Much of this novel is set in the present but with large sections set in the 80s and earlier, particularly 1968 a year in America typified by free love, hippies, student demonstrations and Vietnam.
Americ ...more

flag 96 likes · Like · see review

Oct 19, 2016 Emily May rated it liked it

Shelves: modern-lit, historical, 2016

The Nix is made up of many good parts, some very funny even, but most of them never come together. There were whole chapters of this doorstopper that felt like unnecessary padding.

The central story - about a bored college teacher who is commissioned to write a book about the mother he hasn't seen for years - is diluted by hundreds of tangents that wander off in all directions, spending far too much time on inconsequential anecdotes and subplots from Samuel's childhood, as well as side stories ab ...more

flag 89 likes · Like · see review

Jun 13, 2016 Ron Charles rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2016-favorites

Nathan Hill’s whirling debut novel, “The Nix,” blasts off with an assault on Gov. Sheldon Packer, a fire-breathing, anti-immigrant presidential candidate who may remind you of a certain reality-TV star with size anxiety. A video clip shot by some modern-day Zapruder shows a middle-aged woman shouting, “You pig!” and throwing something at Packer, who, by the grace of God, survives. (The “weapon” was just a handful of gravel, but still!) In the breathless coverage that consumes the nation, the wou ...more

flag 89 likes · Like · see review

Jun 26, 2019 Joe Valdez rated it did not like it

Shelves: abandoned

My introduction to the fiction of Nathan Hill is his debut novel The Nix, a Great American Novel that at 620 pages, is a boat anchor. I came up for air and dropped it at 320 pages. Published in 2016, this literary epic is about a lot, mostly a reconciliation between a failed novelist named Samuel Andersen-Anderson and his mother Faye, who walked out on him and his father thirty years ago. Faye resurfaces during her fifteen minutes of fame chucking pebbles at a hardline governor running for presi My introduction to the fiction of Nathan Hill is his debut novel The Nix, a Great American Novel that at 620 pages, is a boat anchor. I came up for air and dropped it at 320 pages. Published in 2016, this literary epic is about a lot, mostly a reconciliation between a failed novelist named Samuel Andersen-Anderson and his mother Faye, who walked out on him and his father thirty years ago. Faye resurfaces during her fifteen minutes of fame chucking pebbles at a hardline governor running for president, which Samuel's publisher feels puts him in the unique position to crank out a tell-all memoir, if he can reconcile with his mother.

Oh, but this book is about so much more! Hill shares his opinion on the pitiful state of pop music, the ridiculous state of online gaming (a la World of Warcraft), the sad state of higher learning, the idiotic state of the 24 hour news cycle, the disgraceful state of publishing, etc. This all became very droll for me, not because I disagreed with Hill or didn't think he could write, but because I didn't want to read it. Elmore Leonard advised writers to cut out the parts of a novel that readers tend to skip. Leonard didn't mention anything specific about block paragraphs--that's more of a deal breaker for me.

Samuel always feels this way around his publisher: a little uneasy in comparison, a little derelict. Periwinkle looks about forty years old but he's actually the same age as Samuel's father: in his mid-sixties. He seems to be fighting time by being cooler than it. He carries himself in an erect and stiff and regal manner--it's like he thinks of himself as an expensive and tightly wrapped birthday present. His thin shoes are severe and Italian-looking and have little ski jumps at the tips. His waistline seems about eight inches smaller than that of any other adult male in the airport. The knot in his necktie is as tight and hard as an acorn. His lightly graying hair is shaved to what seems to be a perfect and uniform one-centimeter length. Samuel always feels, standing next to him, baggy and big. Clothes bought off the rack and ill-fitting, probably a size too large. Whereas Periwinkle's tight-fitting suit sculpts his body into clean angles and straight lines, Samuel's shape seems blobbier.

If you found that paragraph to be literary TNT, please don't let me dissuade you from reading The Nix. My eyes glazed over everything after the third sentence, which doesn't do what I want a good novel to do: tell me a compelling story. Hill expresses a lot of opinions but doesn't tell a story that I needed to read. A son doesn't need 620 pages to discover why his mother left him. He doesn't need 20 pages. Those who savor literary fiction might delight in the Writing here, but this book just wasn't for me. Point of view shifts from Samuel to an online gaming buddy to Faye put the novel in the "telling" mode rather than a "showing" mode. At this length, that's a lot of telling.

Length: 188,356 words ...more

flag 88 likes · Like · see review

Oct 28, 2016 Diane rated it liked it

Shelves: modern-fiction, audiobooks

This is a Big Bold Debut Novel that I thought was OK, but I didn't love it. At one point I was so frustrated with this book that I abandoned it.* Later I trudged back and decided to finish.

The story is 600+ pages worth of complications. Samuel is a struggling writer and college professor. He is estranged from his mother, Faye, who gets caught in a media storm when she's videotaped throwing rocks at a political event. Samuel is offered a chance to salvage his book contract by writing a story abou ...more

flag 91 likes · Like · see review

Jul 21, 2016 Ron rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, real-feel, literary

This is the story of two lives. A son and his mother. The thing is they hardly know one another. Samuel hasn’t seen his mother for over 20 years, when she walked out the door one day in 1988, before his eleventh birthday. Despite that they are very much the same person. Shaped by circumstance and choice. Damaged by a similar childhood experience and tied by genes which exhibit a very similar vulnerability.

Strangely enough, it is the throwing of rocks at a governor, soon-to-be presidential candid This is the story of two lives. A son and his mother. The thing is they hardly know one another. Samuel hasn’t seen his mother for over 20 years, when she walked out the door one day in 1988, before his eleventh birthday. Despite that they are very much the same person. Shaped by circumstance and choice. Damaged by a similar childhood experience and tied by genes which exhibit a very similar vulnerability.

Strangely enough, it is the throwing of rocks at a governor, soon-to-be presidential candidate, that will bring son and mom together once again. Those rocks are thrown by mom, Faye, and for a reason that will not be readily revealed. I got the feeling that the mid-thirties Samuel had been lost for quite some time. He’s now a literature professor, yet in undistinguished, small college in Chicago. He spends his free time playing online video games, and clinging to the thoughts of the girl he lost a long time ago, but underneath these things I glimpsed a character with strength. Where did that come from?

Faye Andersen-Anderson. My impression of her early in the book: I really don’t like this woman. This radical still clinging to the sixties movement; uncaring wife; mother who loved her child, but who cannot bear the emotional weight and so she runs. This early impression was followed by the but that I did not expect: I didn’t really know her yet. I hadn’t seen the fuller picture. The childhood that shaped her; the hopes and dreams she once had; the things that occur in life which dash those dreams; and a love lost, or at least the chance of one. I saw all this and more after another of the author’s beautifully handled segues between the years. This segue to 1968, like the others to follow, transformed the picture I thought I knew into a whole other picture. The Faye of 1968 is not the Faye of 2011. Wait, because that’s not true either. At the opening of the book there’s a story told of some blind men who were each shown a piece of an elephant. The trunk, an ear, the tusk, etc. Then each blind man described an elephant by what he’d felt. This is an elephant. But each description was different, and so they argued. Later in the book there’s this description the young Faye of 1968 contrasted by the many mistakes and actions that combine to make the Faye of 2011, and she may look for the “true” self:

”In the story of the blind men and the elephant, what’s usually ignored is the fact that each man’s description was correct. What Faye won’t understand and may never understand is that there is not one true self hidden by many false ones. Rather, there is one true self hidden by many other true ones. Yes, she is the meek and shy and industrious student. Yes, she is the panicky and frightened child. Yes, she is the bold and impulsive seductress. Yes, she is the wife, and mother. And many other things as well. Her belief that only one of these is true obscures the larger truth, which was ultimately the problem with the blind men and the elephant. It wasn’t that they were blind – it’s that they stopped too quickly, and so never knew there was a larger truth to grasp”

I thought that was beautiful, and so adept to Faye’s life. I’ll take it a step further and say it describes Samuel as well.

Here’s my highest praise: I did not want this book to end. It was filled with unexpected humor, these funny, laugh-out-loud moments that served so well to balance the serious and the emotional. I loved the characters, and reasoning behind what made them tick. And again, the author does a wonderful job by transitioning the story between the years. I was never bored.

I will not go so far to say that this is the perfect book, but when I stop and think about that, I know there is no such thing. If I were to nit-pick, here are two small things I did not love:
- Nathan Hill’s writing style is exceptional. I love the long sentence structure, but sometimes it was too much. One chapter literally included a single (yet be it a well structured one) sentence that continued for ten pages. Full truth: I loved the first 4 pages, or so, of that.
- The end of the book felt rushed. For the most part, I’m okay with the conclusion of the story, but it did not match the fervor of the first 550 pages. And one character turns out to be a real assbag. Well, isn’t that just like life?

Still, I’m staying with 5 stars because overall, it’s one of the best books I’ve read this year. In part, it reminded me of books like I Know This Much Is True and The Goldfinch (not the same story by any means, but emotionally similar). I can’t say everyone will like it, but I think many could potentially love it.
...more

flag 75 likes · Like · see review

May 03, 2017 Dianne rated it really liked it

Shelves: best-of-2017

I feel as though I just read three completely separate novels somewhat awkwardly combined into one 600+ page tome:

* The Faye Novel featuring Henry, Frank, Sebastian, Alice and Charles Brown (the most problematic with broadly drawn, cartoony characters and unlikely plot resolutions)
* The Samuel/Bishop/Bethany Novel (my favorite)
* The Social Commentary Novel, featuring Pwnage, Alan Ginsburg, Walter Cronkite, Guy Periwinkle, Governor Sheldon Packer, Laura Pottsdam et al (the most fun)

All of the sto ...more

flag 73 likes · Like · see review

Apr 05, 2016 Campbell Andrews rated it it was ok

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Hey everybody, can you feel it? Can you tell by the advance copies, the promised marketing campaign(s), the effusive praise from the publisher? It's THE NEXT BIG THING!!! (I know it is, it says so on the cover.)

But let's dispense with the pleasantries first.

Mr. Hill's prose is straightforward, direct; thankfully, he isn't writing for other writers. His characters are distinct individuals whose motivations are (mostly) understandable. He skewers college & academia most delightfully (one sequence ...more

flag 67 likes · Like · see review

Jul 06, 2016 Emily marked it as abandoned

Recommended to Emily by: Cynthia Shannon

Shelves: arc, literary-fiction

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 t ...more

flag 69 likes · Like · see review

Feb 17, 2017 Helene Jeppesen rated it really liked it

Throughout most of this book, I was determined that it was a 5-star-read. It's a story that contains several very interesting characters, and it shifts between different time periods and situations. It was written in a language that is easy to get through so that you easily read through its 700 pages. Last but not least, I loved how it was so unpredictable and entertaining which I find necessary qualities in a book this size.
However, as I got closer to the ending the story started to unravel an ...more

flag 66 likes · Like · see review

Sep 17, 2016 Perry rated it really liked it

a fusillade of Far Out, man! A superb novel. Finally, a book that lives up to the pre-pub hype. Review to follow.

I loved this book!

flag 67 likes · Like · see review

Oct 30, 2016 Snotchocheez rated it it was amazing

4.5 stars

I'll be the first to admit that I agree with some of the plaints of this novel's detractors and dissectors: Nathan Hill's often-precocious writing style (trying really hard to emulate Franzen and DF Wallace); blatant audience pandering (trying to please the gamut of readers from YA-friendlies and gaming nerds to (recent) history-philes and magical realists); and a tendency to meander down myriad and inconsequential plot threads and stray from the important ones. Yet, despite its flaws, 4.5 stars

I'll be the first to admit that I agree with some of the plaints of this novel's detractors and dissectors: Nathan Hill's often-precocious writing style (trying really hard to emulate Franzen and DF Wallace); blatant audience pandering (trying to please the gamut of readers from YA-friendlies and gaming nerds to (recent) history-philes and magical realists); and a tendency to meander down myriad and inconsequential plot threads and stray from the important ones. Yet, despite its flaws, I really ate up Hill's debut novel, The Nix. I'm not sure if it's the book's fortuitous timing (released months before the insane circus that is the 2016 US Presidential election) or having utterly appealing, utterly flawed characters I thoroughly relate to, but I could not stop reading, and laughing, and shedding a tear (or twenty).

The story pogos everywhere, spanning roughly six decades and two continents, but all plot threads ultimately lead to 2010 and Samuel Andresen-Anderson (an English prof at a low tier college outside Chicago, an aspiring author with only a Choose Your Own Adventure-esque short story to his writing credit, and a Level umpty-thousand elf on Elfscape, a MMORPG he devotes most of his non-working waking hours to); and his mom, Faye Andresen-Anderson (a mousy, Iowa raised former U of Chicago student and Vietnam War protestor, who abandoned her son and husband in the late '80s, presumably under the influence of The Nix, a Norwegian ghosty-wraith). When Samuel inadvertenly catches a newscast of his mom chucking rocks at an ultra-conservative presidential candidate (turning herself overnight into an internet sensation), it prompts Samuel's literary agent to get the rock-throwing terrorist's abandoned son to write a lurid tell-all.

Then the story back-and-forths between son Samuel and mother Faye, filling in the blanks (Samuel's childhood, Faye's high school and college days) to let the reader know why Samuel's the milquetoast-y gaming slug he is, and why Faye's the irresponsible parent/rock chucker she is. Plenty of memorable supporting characters round out the mix of The Nix, like plagiarist student (of Samuel's) Laura, fellow online gamer Pwnage, the twin "B"s; Faye's fellow protestors Alice and Sebastian, her Norwegian father (and napalm producer) Frank. And, of course, that nix (and maybe even, that Nix, too (good old Tricky Dick himself)).

This book is so stuffed to the gills, it's hard to be enamored of the 640-page length (and more than a few times I thought "did he really have to include that?" or "Did he really need to write a thirteen page-long sentence on the ills of role-playing computer games?" (for instance) but I can overlook sins of commission when the overall output is so engaging, funny, sad, and (mostly) relevant. This reminded me a bit of the last super highly-anticipated novel I read, Garth Risk Hallberg's City on Fire (another problematic doorstopper that I really liked). Despite Nathan Hill's frequent flights of fancy, I liked The Nix quite a bit more than City on Fire (which I gave 4 stars). Nowhere to go but up from there, hence the 4.5 stars, rounded up. Wouldn't be a bit surprised if it won an award or two (ahem, stodgy Pulitzer Panel, I got my eyes on y'all). Flawed, but all kinds of fun. ...more

flag 63 likes · Like · see review

May 02, 2017 Katie rated it liked it

Shelves: published-2016

“Sometimes we’re so wrapped up in our own story that we don’t see how we’re supporting characters in someone else’s.”

The Nix runs with the idea of a failed writer/ English professor whose quest is to solve the puzzle of why his mother left him when he was a young boy. He hasn’t seen her since he was eleven when she suddenly becomes a media sensation after being caught on film throwing stones at a Republican presidential candidate.

In a nutshell, the first two hundred pages were great. A scene wh “Sometimes we’re so wrapped up in our own story that we don’t see how we’re supporting characters in someone else’s.”

The Nix runs with the idea of a failed writer/ English professor whose quest is to solve the puzzle of why his mother left him when he was a young boy. He hasn’t seen her since he was eleven when she suddenly becomes a media sensation after being caught on film throwing stones at a Republican presidential candidate.

In a nutshell, the first two hundred pages were great. A scene where the English professor secretly plays an online game in his office called World of Elfscape in which his nom de guerre is Dodger and he fights orcs and dragons with a group of faceless friends was one of the funniest I’ve ever read. It was also a brilliant way of showing how he’s still the eleven year old kid whose mother left him. I also really loved his childhood friendship with the wild kid, Bishop who’s always urging him to defy his limits and his romantic yearning for Bishop’s sister, Bethany.

Then I often found it was becoming almost as silly as the silliness it satirizes. This is a rough-hewn long-winded novel which relies on its raw energy more than artistry or sophisticated prose (thanks Jennifer!) Its main aim perhaps is to poke fun rather than narrate any kind of credible story. By page 400 I had forgotten what was at stake in this novel. At least two characters were there simply to provide satire on modern phenomenon and were superfluous to the plot – Pwnage whose online persona has utterly dwarfed his real world self (there were some great insights here on the shifting boundaries between virtual and real life selves but it was clumsy to give so many pages to a character who had no other purpose in the novel save provide these insights) and Laura Pottsdam, a feckless self-righteous student who exploits the PC educational system to shift her failings onto the shoulders of her teacher. Add to that a cartoon baddie, some highly implausible plot devices and the fact that it all finishes with something of a sentimental flourish. There’s some brilliant social commentary and fabulously insightful humour but often I felt there was a disconnect between the characters and ideas, as if the chief function of the characters was to express, rather than dramatise, these ideas. Also it could, maybe should have been edited down to about 400 pages. David Foster Wallace lite might be a good way of describing it. ...more

flag 75 likes · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. Recent fiction- boy falls in love with his best friend's sister (a violinist?) [s]	7	447	May 24, 2020 08:40AM
The Nix	3	20	Nov 19, 2019 05:06PM
Play Book Tag: The Nix - Nathan Hill - 5 Stars	15	33	Mar 31, 2019 09:26AM
Similarities to American Pastoral by Philip Roth	1	28	Dec 25, 2018 03:42AM

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Genres

Fiction

1,487 users

Historical > Historical Fiction

487 users

Audiobook

197 users

Literary Fiction

185 users

Contemporary

149 users

Novels

98 users

Historical

67 users

Adult Fiction

65 users

Literature

63 users

Adult

54 users

See top shelves…

About Nathan Hill

Nathan Hill

1,626 followers

Nathan Hill's short fiction has appeared in many literary journals, including The Iowa Review, AGNI, The Gettysburg Review, and Fiction, where he was awarded the annual Fiction Prize. A native Iowan, he lives with his wife in Naples, Florida. THE NIX is his first novel.

Connect on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/nathanreads

Connect on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/nathanhillauthor

Official Websit ...more

Goodreads Members Suggest: 32 ‘Vacation’ Reads

As this strange summer of staying put winds down, one thing remains truer than ever: Books offer us endless adventure and new horizons to...

Trivia About The Nix

18 trivia questions

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from The Nix

“Seeing ourselves clearly is the project of a lifetime.” — 138 likes

“The flip side of being a person who never fails at anything is that you never do anything you could fail at. You never do anything risky. There’s a certain essential lack of courage among people who seem to be good at everything.” — 90 likes

More quotes…

See a Problem?

Preview — The Nix by Nathan Hill

The Nix

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About Nathan Hill

Related Articles

Trivia About The Nix

Quotes from The Nix

See a Problem?

Preview — The Nix by Nathan Hill

The Nix

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About Nathan Hill

Related Articles

Trivia About The Nix

Quotes from The Nix

new topic
Discuss This Book