Winner of the Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction
A New York Times 2016 Notable Book
Entertainment Weekly's #1 Book of the Year
A Washington Post 2016 Notable Book
A Slate Top Ten Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“The Nix is a mother-son psychodrama with ghosts and politics, but it’s also a tragicomedy about anger and sanctimony in America. . . . Nathan Hill is a maestro.” —John Irving
From the suburban Midwest to New York City to the 1968 riots that rocked Chicago and beyond, The Nix explores—with sharp humor and a fierce tenderness—the resilience of love and home, even in times of radical change.
It’s 2011, and Samuel Andresen-Anderson—college professor, stalled writer—has a Nix of his own: his mother, Faye. He hasn’t seen her in decades, not since she abandoned the family when he was a boy. Now she’s re-appeared, having committed an absurd crime that electrifies the nightly news, beguiles the internet, and inflames a politically divided country. The media paints Faye as a radical hippie with a sordid past, but as far as Samuel knows, his mother was an ordinary girl who married her high-school sweetheart. Which version of his mother is true? Two facts are certain: she’s facing some serious charges, and she needs Samuel’s help.
To save her, Samuel will have to embark on his own journey, uncovering long-buried secrets about the woman he thought he knew, secrets that stretch across generations and have their origin all the way back in Norway, home of the mysterious Nix. As he does so, Samuel will confront not only Faye’s losses but also his own lost love, and will relearn everything he thought he knew about his mother, and himself.
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"This was a decent stroy that made me laugh out loud a few times (which is not easy to do). That being said, from what I pulled up, the narrator got great reviews, but he almost ruined it for me in many places, giving ridiculously exagerated voices and inflections to the characters. I started to have a hard time dechipering whether I didn't like the story and some of the characters, or if I just really disliked his narration. The main story (and characters) were interesting enough, and were what kept me pushing on, but some of the side characters, in my opinion, were unnecessary and at a certain point got very annoying (e.g. the female student). I found myself dreading thier storylines and wanting to skip ahead. I am still recommending The Nix though, as in the end, the good outweighed the bad and overall I did enjoy it for an interesting story, that though lenghty is still a liht read and mostly enjoyable."
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Renee (4 out of 5 stars)