The Nix, Nathan Hill

There isn't a single "Great American Novel" anymore. It's become a tradition that gains a new member every twenty or thirty years. Nathan Hill's The Nix is the next to join the academy. It's right up there with The Grapes of Wrath, Moby Dick, and several others as the greatest work of literature to represent American history and culture. That's high praise coming from a casual reader, but I've seen enough to know what will be remembered and what won't, and this most certainly will. 

Hill has a great ability to satirize the social conventions of our time, and he's not afraid to make political insinuations that often damage the right wing (to be fair, there is plenty to poke fun of at the left here, too). The book is as much known for the laughs it brings as it is for its literary merit. On this track, Hill carries the torch started by Thomas Pynchon and continued by David Foster Wallace, as the prime tragicomedic hipsters of their postmodern generations, although our writer isn't nearly as difficult to read as his predecessors. 

According to Hill, a "nix" is a Norwegian ghost from the past that plagues someone or something until it's been reconciled. One could say that Faye's (main character) is a mirror of America's own- a lost child, disbanded from her old family, Europe- her life's purpose being a long search for deliverance from the decadence spawned by the division from her father. 

And so but the fabric of the book is Faye's son, Sam, a disillusioned teacher who seeks to write a story about his mother, whom he never fully understands. He sacrifices his ego and ignores the anger that blurs his perspective, so that he can better identify with her and write a much clearer story than it would have otherwise been. A message is made to all writers here; that no matter how much somebody's actions aggravate you, you have to put them aside and consider things from their perspective to tell an affective story. Sometimes it's not all about you. Your story could be better by using someone else as the focal point, instead of you. 

 

Memorable passages were: 

Samuel hearing Beth's music 

When Samuel reads Bishop's letter 

Pwnage's embolism while playing Elfscape- a whole segment written as a single sentence. 

The Revolution in '68 (the entire chapter) 

Faye's return to Norway