Members with This Book
Most Helpful Reviews
see all reviews
Liked It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “Netherland was truly one of the finest books I've read this year. O'Neill's writing is incredible, offering the reader a look at how one man tries to find his way and carve out a new life for himself after he is basically left alone in exile in New York City just after the events of 9/11. ...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “This won a major award this year (Pen/Faulkner) and while it had certain OK passages, I can't bring myself to give it more than two stars. The sections on cricket were deadly boring even though it was amusing to read one character comparing Americans to savages who needed to be taught this...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Newest Reviews
see all reviews-
“This is an amazing book - the characters are very real, the language is beautiful, especially the long sentences, and the concerns addressed by the characters very real.”
rolymo wrote this review 10 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“This won a major award this year (Pen/Faulkner) and while it had certain OK passages, I can't bring myself to give it more than two stars. The sections on cricket were deadly boring even though it was amusing to read one character comparing Americans to savages who needed to be taught this civilizing game. I thought Hans the Dutch character (an investment banker who lives in NYC) was not at all a guy I would want to know. I can see O'Neill having promise and I wouldn't exclude reading another one of his books. Unless it's about cricket.”
Seth T wrote this review 11 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
0 of 1 members found this review helpful“Hans van den Broek, the Dutch-born narrator of O'Neill's dense, intelligent novel, observes of his friend, Chuck Ramkissoon, a self-mythologizing entrepreneur-gangster, that he never quite believed that people would sooner not have their understanding of the world blown up, even by Chuck Ramkissoon. The image of one's understanding of the world being blown up is poignant—this is Hans's fate after 9/11. He and wife Rachel abandon their downtown loft, and, soon, Rachel leaves him behind at their temporary residence, the Chelsea Hotel, taking their son, Jake, back to London. Hans, an equities analyst, is at loose ends without Rachel, and in the two years he remains Rachel-less in New York City, he gets swept up by Chuck, a Trinidadian expatriate Hans meets at a cricket match. Chuck's dream is to build a cricket stadium in Brooklyn; in the meantime, he operates as a factotum for a Russian gangster. The unlikely (and doomed from the novel's outset) friendship rises and falls in tandem with Hans's marriage, which falls and then, gradually, rises again. O'Neill (This Is the Life) offers an outsider's view of New York bursting with wisdom, authenticity and a sobering jolt of realism. (May)
North Shore Country Day School English-10 wrote this review 12 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.”“as of Dec. 2009, I'm going to put off reading this book. It only averaged 3 stars via Amazon reviewers.”
EILEEN M wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“I became very frustrated with the main character in the book and his passivity about his life. The view of New York is interesting and showed a different side that I haven't read before. An understanding of cricket may have helped with the understanding of the book.”
Lynne M wrote this review Sunday, November 22 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“While listening to this book, I really had to pay attention. Sometimes it was interesting, sometimes it bored me, sometimes it offended me. For those of you that are anti-Bush, you may like this book. Also a book for anyone living in NYC. ”
shawna wrote this review Sunday, November 1 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Four stars for the story/Five stars for the writing”
Jenny M wrote this review Friday, October 30 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Somewhat disappointing as the book comes recommended by no less than President Obama himself. Despite it being delightfully written, the story of the Dutchman banker Hans befriending a shady character in post-9/11 NYC just doesn't engage. ”
maria g wrote this review Thursday, October 22 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Um, some parts are good. I found it little hard to get into and some sentances are a bit long so I spent more effort following the sentance than getting the point of it. It's sort of plotless, more like a book that makes a point rather than the standard plot arc.”
Rachel W wrote this review Wednesday, October 21 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
