| |  | Books : Netherland: A Novel |  | | | | | | | | | |
List Price:$23.95
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780307377043
ISBN: 0307377040
Label: Pantheon
Manufacturer: Pantheon
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 272
Publication Date: May 20, 2008
Publisher: Pantheon
Release Date: May 20, 2008
Sales Rank: 189
Studio: Pantheon
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
In a New York City made phantasmagorical by the events of 9/11, Hans--a banker originally from the Netherlands--finds himself marooned among the strange occupants of the Chelsea Hotel after his English wife and son return to London. Alone and untethered, feeling lost in the country he had come to regard as home, Hans stumbles upon the vibrant New York subculture of cricket, where he revisits his lost childhood and, thanks to a friendship with a charismatic and charming Trinidadian named Chuck Ramkissoon, begins to reconnect with his life and his adopted country. Ramkissoon, a Gatsby-like figure who is part idealist and part operator, introduces Hans to an “other” New York populated by immigrants and strivers of every race and nationality. Hans is alternately seduced and instructed by Chuck’s particular brand of naivete and chutzpah--by his ability to a hold fast to a sense of American and human possibility in which Hans has come to lose faith.
Netherland gives us both a flawlessly drawn picture of a little-known New York and a story of much larger, and brilliantly achieved ambition: the grand strangeness and fading promise of 21st century America from an outsider’s vantage point, and the complicated relationship between the American dream and the particular dreamers. Most immediately, though, it is the story of one man--of a marriage foundering and recuperating in its mystery and ordinariness, of the shallows and depths of male friendship, of mourning and memory.Joseph O’Neill’s prose, in its conscientiousness and beauty, involves us utterly in the struggle for meaning that governs any single life.
Customer Reviews Average Rating: 
Rating:  - A significant work
A significant work about an emotionally bleak post-9/11 that is at once invigorating and reflective. The great tragedy of that day is a shadow that falls over the characters and the events, but it wisely never takes over the novel. This is a reasonably suspenseful, well-paced book,even with some rather long-winded explanations of cricket, which I found myself skimming after a while. (O'Neill, is the author of an acclaimed memoir and a member of the Staten Island Cricket Club, and like a reviewer ... Read More
Rating:  - Awful
I tried and tried to like this book. It is a book that is written to show off the authors use of the Enlish language. The characters are unlikable. All of them. He even managed to make a colorful guy like Chuck boring. The narrator, yes we understand the Dutch are stereotyped as unemotional, is a zombie and floats through 9/11, separation from his wife and son and the death of his closest friend in NY with no believable reaction. The author claims that Hans is angry, upset and hurt, but the jumble ... Read More
Rating: - Not good
I couldn't even finish this book. I found it hard to stay engaged and REALLY found it hard to pretend that I even liked (or understood) the game of cricket. I am glad that this was a library book instead of a purchase.
Rating:  - Amazingly sublime
Joe O'Neill captures the angst that pervaded the city post 9/11 by channeling a collection of fascinating characters and genres.
Even if you're not a cricket fan you'll get this!
Rating: - Lyrical and flexible prose captures relationships and sports
Netherland is the story of a couple (Hans and Rachel) living in New York City with their young son. After the September 11th terrorist attacks, Rachel moves back to England where she's from with their son, claiming she can't raise a child in such a "diseased" country. After being left behind in NYC by his family, Hans immerses himself in the city's cricket subculture and befriends Chuck Ramkissoon, a Trinidadian entrepreneur who dabbles in shady enterprises and referees cricket matches on the side. ... Read More
Netherland: A Novel | | | |
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