Some books cause a buzz in literary circles; “Netherland” by Joseph O'Neill is one of those. Written by an Irishman who was raised in Holland, worked as a lawyer in London, and now lives in New York City, O'Neill has written a novel that has drawn comparisons to F. Scott Fitzgerald's “The Great Gatsby.”
It has also been chosen as a finalist for this year's prestigious Man Booker Prize, and has been the recipient of glowing reviews from many distinguished publications.
Set in New York City just after 9/11, Hans is a young equities analyst who grew up in Holland, and went to college in London where he meets Rachel, an up and coming lawyer.
They fall in love, marry and have a lovely son, Jacob. Rachel gets transferred to her law firm's office in New York City, and Hans soon follows when he gets a job there as well. They do all of the great things that young people living in the trendy area of TriBeCa do - fabulous restaurants, funky shopping and fun nightlife.
When the towers fell on 9/11, people living in New York were affected in many different ways. Hans, Rachel and Jacob had to move from their damaged apartment to the Chelsea Hotel, a storied place where transient hotel guests mingled with long-term residents, many of whom were eccentric.
The terrorist attack also caused many people to turn introspective. They stopped running on the daily treadmill of New York City and took a good, hard look at their lives. Rachel was one of those people.
The attack made her fearful for her son's safety, and so she told Hans that she was taking Jacob back to London to live with her parents. Hans tried to convince her that London was as dangerous a place as New York, but Rachel was adamant.
Hans is willing to relocate back to London, but Rachel does not want him to come with them. She is not sure that she wants to remain married to Hans. She feels that it would be good to have some time apart.
Although he doesn't wish to separate from his family, he does agree with Rachel's assessment of the state of their marriage. “Tiredness; if there was a constant symptom of the disease in our lives, it was tiredness. At work we were unflagging; at home the smallest gesture of liveliness was beyond us. Mornings we awoke to a malign weariness that seemed only to have refreshed itself overnight.”
Rachel accuses Hans of allowing things to happen to him, not making them happen. This is apparently true, as Hans allows Rachel to leave with Jacob. He agrees to fly to London every other week to visit them, and hopes that their separation will give Rachel time to realize that they belong together.
Hans is lost without his family. He works hard, but has few friends at work with whom to socialize. He attempts to make friends with some of the denizens of the Chelsea Hotel, including a man who wears huge angel wings.
Things change for Hans when he meets Chuck Ramkissoon, a Trinidadian immigrant who shows Hans an entirely new side of New York. Growing up in Holland, Hans played cricket. A chat with a taxi driver results in an invitation to join a group of mostly Caribbean immigrants who play in a cricket league in Queens and Brooklyn.
Ramkissoon is an umpire at one of the games who calms some angry players with an inspiring speech. Hans is impressed with Chuck, and soon the two become friends. Ramkissoon is the Gatsby-esque character in the novel, a man who dreams of building a huge cricket complex in New York, and making cricket a huge national sport, like baseball.
Hans wants to gets his driver's license, and after a scene at the DMV that nails the worst bureaucratic nightmares one can have, he fails his driving test. Chuck offers to give Hans driving experience by allowing Hans to drive him on his errands.
It is while on these errands that Hans is exposed to a different side of New York City. His immigrant experience in Manhattan varies widely from the lives of the immigrants with whom Chuck lives and works. Hans comes to see that not all of Chuck's business dealings are legitimate, and is it a question of how much he is willing to overlook to remain friends with Chuck.
Chuck Ramkissoon is a larger-than-life character, one who definitely has a place in the milieu of one of the larger-than-life cities of the world. He aspires to be like the immigrants who came before him, who through sheer willpower, hard work and maybe more than a little chicanery, created an empire.
The reader learns much about the game of cricket, maybe more than one would like to. O'Neill goes into explicit detail explaining the finer points of the game. He uses cricket to reveal the immigrant lifestyle, and how they impact the culture of their adoptive city.
There have been some people who have criticized O'Neill for his overlong sentences, but I found his writing to be lovely. Some of his sentences are so beautifully crafted, I had to go back and read them again to fully appreciate them.
The cover of the novel has a gorgeous illustration of people on a bucolic cricket field, with the skyline of Manhattan in the background. The title of the book is intriguing, with “Netherland” one letter from “Netherlands,” another name for Holland, Hans homeland. The word nether means lower or under, giving the title “Netherland” another meaning, under land, referring to the New York City world that Chuck Ramkissoon and other immigrants reside in, a far cry from the Times Square that most tourists think of when they think of New York City.
“Netherland” is a thought-provoking novel, one that contrasts the immigrant experiences of the upper class Wall Street professionals with the working class immigrants in New York City. At its heart, however, is the tale of one man who loves his wife and child, and tries anything he can to figure a way to make the life he wants with them. I give “Netherlands” four and half stars.
Diane La Rue is a member of the National Book Critics Circle. Her lifelong goal is to read one book per week. She can be reached at laruediane2000@yahoo.com
If you read
What: “Netherland”
Who: Joseph O'Neill
Publisher: Random House
Cost: $23.95, hardcover
Set in New York City just after 9/11, Hans is a young equities analyst who grew up in Holland, and went to college in London where he meets Rachel, an up and coming lawyer.
They fall in love, marry and have a lovely son, Jacob. Rachel gets transferred to her law firm's office in New York City, and Hans soon follows when he gets a job there as well. They do all of the great things that young people living in the trendy area of TriBeCa do - fabulous restaurants, funky shopping and fun nightlife.
When the towers fell on 9/11, people living in New York were affected in many different ways. Hans, Rachel and Jacob had to move from their damaged apartment to the Chelsea Hotel, a storied place where transient hotel guests mingled with long-term residents, many of whom were eccentric.
The terrorist attack also caused many people to turn introspective. They stopped running on the daily treadmill of New York City and took a good, hard look at their lives. Rachel was one of those people.
The attack made her fearful for her son's safety, and so she told Hans that she was taking Jacob back to London to live with her parents. Hans tried to convince her that London was as dangerous a place as New York, but Rachel was adamant.
Hans is willing to relocate back to London, but Rachel does not want him to come with them. She is not sure that she wants to remain married to Hans. She feels that it would be good to have some time apart.
Although he doesn't wish to separate from his family, he does agree with Rachel's assessment of the state of their marriage. “Tiredness; if there was a constant symptom of the disease in our lives, it was tiredness. At work we were unflagging; at home the smallest gesture of liveliness was beyond us. Mornings we awoke to a malign weariness that seemed only to have refreshed itself overnight.”
Rachel accuses Hans of allowing things to happen to him, not making them happen. This is apparently true, as Hans allows Rachel to leave with Jacob. He agrees to fly to London every other week to visit them, and hopes that their separation will give Rachel time to realize that they belong together.
Hans is lost without his family. He works hard, but has few friends at work with whom to socialize. He attempts to make friends with some of the denizens of the Chelsea Hotel, including a man who wears huge angel wings.
Things change for Hans when he meets Chuck Ramkissoon, a Trinidadian immigrant who shows Hans an entirely new side of New York. Growing up in Holland, Hans played cricket. A chat with a taxi driver results in an invitation to join a group of mostly Caribbean immigrants who play in a cricket league in Queens and Brooklyn.
Ramkissoon is an umpire at one of the games who calms some angry players with an inspiring speech. Hans is impressed with Chuck, and soon the two become friends. Ramkissoon is the Gatsby-esque character in the novel, a man who dreams of building a huge cricket complex in New York, and making cricket a huge national sport, like baseball.
Hans wants to gets his driver's license, and after a scene at the DMV that nails the worst bureaucratic nightmares one can have, he fails his driving test. Chuck offers to give Hans driving experience by allowing Hans to drive him on his errands.
It is while on these errands that Hans is exposed to a different side of New York City. His immigrant experience in Manhattan varies widely from the lives of the immigrants with whom Chuck lives and works. Hans comes to see that not all of Chuck's business dealings are legitimate, and is it a question of how much he is willing to overlook to remain friends with Chuck.
Chuck Ramkissoon is a larger-than-life character, one who definitely has a place in the milieu of one of the larger-than-life cities of the world. He aspires to be like the immigrants who came before him, who through sheer willpower, hard work and maybe more than a little chicanery, created an empire.
The reader learns much about the game of cricket, maybe more than one would like to. O'Neill goes into explicit detail explaining the finer points of the game. He uses cricket to reveal the immigrant lifestyle, and how they impact the culture of their adoptive city.
There have been some people who have criticized O'Neill for his overlong sentences, but I found his writing to be lovely. Some of his sentences are so beautifully crafted, I had to go back and read them again to fully appreciate them.
The cover of the novel has a gorgeous illustration of people on a bucolic cricket field, with the skyline of Manhattan in the background. The title of the book is intriguing, with “Netherland” one letter from “Netherlands,” another name for Holland, Hans homeland. The word nether means lower or under, giving the title “Netherland” another meaning, under land, referring to the New York City world that Chuck Ramkissoon and other immigrants reside in, a far cry from the Times Square that most tourists think of when they think of New York City.
“Netherland” is a thought-provoking novel, one that contrasts the immigrant experiences of the upper class Wall Street professionals with the working class immigrants in New York City. At its heart, however, is the tale of one man who loves his wife and child, and tries anything he can to figure a way to make the life he wants with them. I give “Netherlands” four and half stars.
Diane La Rue is a member of the National Book Critics Circle. Her lifelong goal is to read one book per week. She can be reached at laruediane2000@yahoo.com
If you read
What: “Netherland”
Who: Joseph O'Neill
Publisher: Random House
Cost: $23.95, hardcover
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