Netherland, written by Joseph O'Neill, is a a novel about a Dutch man living in New York during 9-11 and the toll that the stress of that situation takes on his marriage and his life. The book is basically a series of flashbacks that the main character has as he tries to piece his life back together and includes a lot of stories of his youth in the Netherlands.
The book is actually pretty dark, but the author is thoughtful and intelligent as he writes about a deep (and deeply unhappy) man who, despite everything, just seems to want to be a good father as he muddles through his life working, playing cricket and trying to make friends. Truth be told, he is not a particularly likable character (especially at first) but I didn't completely dislike him and anyhow, the other characters weren't so great either.
This book jumps around in time quite a bit, but the author makes the jumps surprisingly seamless as he tells his story. One distracting part about the book was the feeling that each and every sentence was written and then subsequently rewritten to be infinitely more complex than it needed to be. The author was clearly trying to put his thoughts down in a way he felt was beautiful and did them justice, but a lot of it was much too contrived to be truly beautiful.
I originally picked up the book because it was on a list of books to read about the Netherlands, but when I started reading, I felt like it ought to be on different list (New York? cricket?). As I pressed onward however, I did enjoy the book and its descriptions of a vividly described Dutch childhood.
If anyone is interested in any of these topics (Netherlands, New York, 9-11, cricket or trying to keep a marriage together), I would recommend the book. Although it is not a light/happy read, it was enjoyable and easily kept my attention throughout.
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