Netherland by Joseph O'neill
In a New York City made phantasmagorical by the events of 9/11, Hans-a banker originally from the Netherlands-finds himself marooned among the strange occupants of the Chelsea Hotel after his English wife and son return to London. Alone and untethered, feeling lost in the country he had come to regard as home, Hans stumbles upon the vibrant New York subculture of cricket, where he revisits his lost childhood and, thanks to a friendship with a charismatic and charming Trinidadian named Chuck Ramkissoon, begins to reconnect with his life and his adopted country. Ramkissoon, a Gatsby-like figure who is part idealist and part operator, introduces Hans to an other New York populated by immigrants and strivers of every race and nationality. Hans is alternately seduced and instructed by Chuck's particular brand of naivetE and chutzpah-by his ability to a hold fast to a sense of American and human possibility in which Hans has come to lose faith. Netherland gives us both a flawlessly drawn picture of a little-known New York and a story of much larger, and brilliantly achieved ambition: the grand strangeness and fading promise of 21st century America from an outsider's vantage point, and the complicated relationship between the American dream and the particular dreamers. Most immediately, though, it is the story of one man-of a marriage foundering and recuperating in its mystery and ordinariness, of the shallows and depths of male friendship, of mourning and memory. Joseph O'Neill's prose, in its conscientiousness and beauty, involves us utterly in the struggle for meaning that governs any single life.Joseph O'Neill was born in the Irish city of Cork in 1964, and grew up in Mozambique, South Africa, Iran, Turkey, and the Netherlands. His past works include the novels This Is the Life and The Breezes, as well as the nonfiction book Blood-Dark Track, a family history focusing on his grandfathers' mystery detention during WWII, which was named a New York Times Notable Book. He contributes to The Atlantic Monthly on a regular basis. In New York City, he lives with his family.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780307388773 |
| ISBN 10 | 0307388778 |
| Title | Netherland |
| Author | Joseph O'neill |
| Series | Vintage Contemporaries |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Random House USA Inc |
| Year published | 2009-05-07 |
| Number of pages | 272 |
| Prizes | Winner of Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award 2009, Winner of PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction 2009 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |