Netherland
Netherland, June 2008, 9/10.
Written by Joseph O’Neill. Published by Pantheon.
I really loved this book (as did just about everyone else, it would seem). it is beautifully written and describes the city magnificently, but even better is the way that the frailties of each of the main characters is exposed after whoing them all to be such confident and apparently successful people. The ability to write well about a collective feeling through an individual perspective is rare, and to combine a number of these in such a seamless fashion is delightful. What’s more, as a big cricket fan I loved the way that the game was used to make impatient Americans seem so silly.
