“The things you love the most will one day hurt you the worst.”
It’s only January but I’m pretty sure The Nix will be one of the best books I’ll read this year. I knew very little about this novel going in. I’d seen that the New York Times Book Review called it the “love child of Thomas Pynchon and David Foster Wallace”, but I didn’t read the actual review (you can here). Maybe I will when I’m done with the book. Or maybe not. Maybe, like I did with other books that I loved like The Goldfinch and A Little Life, I will ignore what everyone else says. I will enthusiastically encourage others to read the book, but secretly I won’t care if they do. Because these books belong to me now. The Nix is over 600 pages but don’t let that intimate you. If you’re going to be intimated by anything let it be the realization that it isn’t really just one novel, it’s more like several novels, all being told to you at the same time. Your job is to keep up. You’ll be fine, though. Because Nathan Hill is an incredible writer. I’m almost done with it now, and I’ll be sad to see it end.
What are you reading?