About this title: The author of the "New York Times" Notable Book "Blood-Dark Track" delivers a mesmerizing novel about a man trying to make his way in an America of shattered hopes and values, and the unlikely occurrences that pull him back into an authentic, passionately engaged life.
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Description: New. 0307388778 NEW: ...! ! ! ! . (may have faint shelf wear from bookstore). ALL ORDERS SHIP SAME OR NEXT BUSINESS DAY, FREE POSTAL DELIVERY CONFIRMATION FOR U.S. ORDERS, TOP CUSTOMER SERVICE! ! ! ! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Pantheon
Date Published: 2008-05-20
ISBN-13:9780307377043ISBN:0307377040
Description: Fine in Fine jacket. Gift quality hardcover in unclipped dustjacket. Fresh and clean with no markings of any kind. Binding tight and square, corners sharp. Pantheon, New York, 2008. 256 pages. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Pantheon
Date Published: 2008-05-20
ISBN-13:9780307377043ISBN:0307377040
Description: New. New hardcover with dust jacket. Nice tight bright book. Text is clean and unmarked. May have a small red dot on bottom fore edge, does not interfere with text. Packaged carefully and sent promptly with free tracking number in US. Gift Messaging available. Satisfaction guaranteed. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Pantheon
Date Published: 2008-05-20
ISBN-13:9780307377043ISBN:0307377040
Description: New. New hardcover book with publisher's inventory mark. We ship 6 days a week, generally within 24 hours; single CDs and DVDs upgraded to 1st class! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: HarperPerennial
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780007275700ISBN:0007275706
Description: New. NEW-SHOP SOILED COPY-TRUSTED DEVON (UK) BASED SELLER-IN STOCK-SENT WITHIN 1 WORKING DAY-AVAILABLE BY EMAIL FOR QUERIES-NO QUIBBLE REFUND IF NOT COMPLETELY SATISFIED- read more
"I was torn between three and four stars for this book, but opted for four because this is a book that seems better the more you think about it after reading it. It's an excellent exposition of the waxing and waning of emotions in personal relationships, marriage in particular, and how central those emotions are to the human condition. It is very well written, but it did not grab me and hold onto me. Nor did I put it down and say: "Wow, that was really good." The paragraphs are way too long, sometimes making it annoying to read. But it's very easy to relate to and like the narrator, Hans, and he weaves his history and the impact of important relationships in his life in and out of the story very deftly; also an excellent portrayal of the impact sport can have on one's life, both for the comraderie and as an escape and coping mechanism.
I found it remarkable that without a lot of detail about anyone but Chuck, I felt I had a good sense of all the characters and their impact on the narrator -- everyone but Chuck. Despite the many pages devoted to Chuck, he remains a complete mystery. I think this book would be very good for discussion in a book group or an English class because much of the depth of the book seems like it requires further exploration and introspection."
"An alternately brilliant and disappointing novel that doesn't quite measure up to the hype. When I saw that both Michiko and James Wood had pretty much anointed this as one of the greatest New York novels ever, how could I not read it? In their defense, much of the panty-throwing is justified. I don't know that I've come across such breathtaking descriptions of the five burroughs and the imagining of the Chuck Ramikissoon character was brilliant. I still have no interest in cricket, but appreciated its metaphoric use. So much of what I associate with NYC is there: aimlessness, check, loneliness in the crowd, check, random encounters with people you'd never expect to associate with, check. An impressive amount of territory - thematically and geographically - is covered in a relatively breezy 250 pages. In the face of all this goodness, the flaws are arguably worth overlooking, but a masterpiece this is not. Probably the biggest problem is that O'Neill's protagonist provides surprisingly little insight into the marital struggles and reconciliation that in the end, come off as crude plot devices. This is just one of several problems I had with the narration, which at times, is awkward and totally unconvincing. I didn't really believe this person was a Wall Street research analyst (for the oil & gas sector at that) and cringed at the sporadic use of obscenities. For me, the S&M scene was a strained and failed attempt to shock. I also wondered where the flesh-and-blood gay people were, particularly given that the narrator lived in Chelsea for most of the book. O'Neill gives us only one queer character - a transvestite Turkish emigre in angel wings who is more tacked-on literary device (particularly when splayed on the roof of a synagogue) than believable person. And this might just be some oversensitivity to the European authorship, but did it not seem like most of the Americans in this book (outside of the cricket circle) were caricatures (the racist, sexist, Wall Street co-workers to the rude DMV employees)? Despite these complaints, I would still highly recommend this to anyone who's ever spent a lot of time in New York and especially to the cricket aficiondos, wherever you are."
"I should have counted the words I ought to have looked-up while reading Joseph O'Neil's "Netherland." They must have numbered at least one hundred. Not a bad trick to play on someone with a masters degree from an Ivy League university. Also, there were those inordinately complex sentences that I needed to reread at least three times to get a glimmering of their meaning. Perhaps, an English professor's dream and the basis for a literary essay. But the makings for a great novel? I think not, without a good plot and character development to back up those fancy words and sentences. I am perplexed why this book has been selected by The New York Times as one of the ten best books of the year and how it made the cut for the Man Booker Prize's long list. Apparently, all the reviewers were mesmerized by Mr. O'Neil's literary style to the point that they overlooked other ingredients normally associated with a good book. For me, "Netherland" was simply boring and pretentious. I plodded through to the end but then wondered why I had bothered.
I decided to read "Netherland" because it has been described as a post-9/11 novel. There are several references in this book to the emotional impact of 9/11 on New Yorkers and on the main character Hans whose wife uses the threat of future terrorist acts as a pretext to move back to London along with their son. A book that I found much richer in its discussion of 9/11 was "A Thousand Veils." It tells about a lawyer, totally immersed in the corporate greed of Wall Street, whose last-minute escape from the North Tower leads him to question his values and results in his life-changing decision to assist an Iraqi refugee. This is a much more satisfying solution than Hans' response in the aftermath of the crisis to bury himself in the game of cricket."
"This much praised novel was one of the recent books I was eager to read and, just as the reviewers promised, it is full of beautiful writing and elegant mediations on post-9/11 America and the role of sport in our lives. The best passages of the book were those about cricket and in these pages O'Neill manages to capture the beauty and elegance of the communities sport engenders in a way I've not seen before in fiction. In the end, though, the book doesn't quite hold together. I was far more interested in the narrator than Chuck, and though the narrator professes his love for Chuck, I never quite believed, or felt, this affection for the character."
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