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Netherland | 
 enlarge | Author: Joseph O'neill
Publisher: Fourth Estate Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £14.99
Buy New: £7.49
You Save: £7.50 (50%)
New (29) Used (5) Collectible (2) from £7.00
Rating:  52 reviews
Sales Rank: 189
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.6 x 5.4 x 1.1
ISBN: 0007269064
EAN: 9780007269068
ASIN: 0007269064
Publication Date: May 6, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 FLYING DUTCHMAN July 29, 2008
DAVID BRYSON (Glossop Derbyshire England)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
We have to be careful with ethnic stereotypes these days, but perhaps it can be suggested without giving offence that the image of the Dutch bourgeoisie is one of rationality, level-headedness and emotions under control. Almost without exception in my experience, their command of English is perfect and they fit perfectly into careers in English-speaking nations. The narrator of Netherland is exactly such a Dutchman. In his career he is an effortless high-flyer, when separated from his wife and child he flies fortnightly to London from Niew Amsterdam to visit them without a financial qualm or any seeming sense of fatigue or jet-lag, he joins his family at a moment's notice and without any apparent change of pace in a holiday in Kerala, and his receptive imagination takes flight to Trinidad as well.
What is striking about Hans is that although a lot happens to him he is never the initiator of anything that happens. First his marriage falls apart, then by the end of the book it is getting together again, but his wife is the driver of both events. Intelligent, thoughtful and successful he may be, capable of a formidable amount of emotional resilience too, but tagging along like a tame dog in his wife's turbulent wake. Three extra-marital liaisons are mentioned, one in some detail. In this the woman seduces him, and when she then breaks off contact that's that and she is never even mentioned again. With the other two it seems to have been a similar story. Nothing of this nature is anywhere near as important to him as the game of cricket it seems. If anything in this superb novel strikes me as a little overdone it is the lengthy and loving musings on the great sport of the British Empire. It is only quite recently that I became aware that Holland and Ireland are making determined efforts to break into the imperial monopoly. Just how deep-rooted their love of the game is I am now beginning to understand from this tale put into the mouth of a Dutchman by an Irish author.
Cricket in America seems to be a game for either English emigres (as in Waugh) or immigrants (as here). It is starting to follow soccer in being a big-money game, but the place where the money is to be made is clearly not the USA but India. Apart from the marriage/family theme, the other main narrative is of Hans's partial involvement, typically cautious, prompted and reactive on his part, with a cricket-minded immigrant entrepreneur who strongly recalls Gatsby, not least in the man's fate mentioned at the outset and partially explained near the end. I did not really find anything amounting to a theme with regard to 9/11 or the conflict in Iraq. They are mentioned because that is the timeframe in which the story is set and it would have been rather coy if they had not been referred to in a story largely taking place in New York, but the mentions are brief and incidental. It is true that Rachel cites the post-9/11 atmosphere as her reason for taking their son away from New York, but I fancy it's clear enough that if it had not been for that reason she would have found another.
This is the unfinished tale of a man whose emotions are genuine and deep - unfinished not (I hope) in the sense that there is going to be a sequel but because if anything is clear from the sequence of events here it is that neither Hans nor anyone else is likely to carry on from where the book leaves off in any placid nirvana. Hans's main characteristic is rationality. He is truthful with himself and can face up to his own shortcomings as he perceives them, but he is probably a bit too rational for his own good. If his life is going to be happy or fulfilled (whatever the latter might be in his case) that will only be so if others allow it to be. I found the whole novel to be one of the best and most involving that I have had the privilege of reading in years. I'm not myself inclined to read allegories or social/political messages into it. What this book possesses, for me, is human truth. The characterisation is exceptionally convincing, and it is helped by writing that I would describe as being of the highest quality. I do not normally have any great problem in putting novels down, but I certainly did with this one.
Bowled Over June 30, 2008
A reader (London)
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
There's a lot going on beneath the surface in Joseph O'Neill's novel "Netherland". The title is a multiple play on words: the hero being Dutch, the bonds between the principal characters playing out beneath the surface, and the setting of the New York immigrant community. This is a complex piece of literary fiction that eludes reductive analysis, so some readers (as they have done on this site) will respond to the story of the narrator's marriage, others to his association with cricket, others to his experiences as a foreigner in New York and London, and others to the 9/11 zeitgeist.
Narrated by Hans van den Broek, a Dutch commodities analyst, the novel opens with Hans learning of the death of a former acquaintance, Chuck Ramkissoon, a Trinidadian American. Hans met Chuck through becoming involved in the underground cricket movement in New York City, and a good part of the novel, and in my opinion its best part, revolves around Hans's rediscovered passion for the game during a period of estrangement from his wife. The author's observations of the game and its psychology are memorable and moving.
Through a non-linear sequence of recollections, Hans describes his marriage to a London lawyer, Rachel, with whom he has a son, Jake. Hans and Rachel drift apart and then drift back together. There are no large dramatic turning-points in their relationship; instead, these developments creep up on the characters. And the same is true of Hans's relationship with Chuck, in which Hans learns of Chuck's pipe-dream of bringing high-profile cricket to present-day America. The period of time in which the novel is set also takes in its stride the post-9/11 N.Y. mindset, which it addresses obliquely, although some American critics have made a great deal more of this than the author (see interview with Joseph O'Neill on this site).
In less skilful hands, "Netherland" could have degenerated into a binge of tedious literary devices overpowering character and plot starved of development. Or it could have been a predictable story of redemption/re-equilibration through sport. But O'Neill gets the balance right between things happening and things being thought about, and the overall result is one of the most engaging pieces of literary fiction I've read in a long time.
My only quibble is that a novel in which the featured sport is cricket depicts a photograph of an ice-skater on the cover!
A book to get lost in August 15, 2008
A. Moore
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Very little happens over the course of this book that might make for an exciting narrative, although the events, were they to occur to you or I, would feel earth-shattering. This is the story of business analyst Hans, his separation from his wife and child, and the things he does to fill his time while being alone and foreign in New York between 2002 and 2004.
The dust cover would have you believe this is a book about cricket. Not so. The quotes on said dust cover would lead you to think it is all about the experience of 'post 9/11' New York. Again, not so. These two items do figure into the narrative, but are hardly the focus.
This is, rather, a book about being lost and bewildered in a foreign land after everything you hold dear and take for granted is gone. Hans realises how little he saw before this point - both in terms of the feelings of his wife, and the New York that exists all around him. Once she is gone he loses himself exploring New York with an array of first, second and third generation immigrants and experiences New York in a whole new way. Meanwhile, he continues to experience his marriage in a manner which does not match his wife's interpretation.
The beauty of the book, slight narrative and all, is the quality of prose put to paper by Joseph O'Neill. Everything is filled with the wonder of a wide-eyed Henry Miller, and it seems that Mr. O'Neill really loves New York, life, and people in general. Even when describing Hans' lowest moments, the phrases on the book pages are marvelous. I have no interest in cricket whatsoever but found this book so beguiling that it didn't matter - the enjoyment of each sentence prevailed, regardless of the subject matter.
This is, simply, a beautifully written book. Like a good meal, I couldn't wait to get to the next bite, but wished it was longer once I reached the end.
Highly recommended.
Cricket? 9/11? Male friendship? Terrific! July 18, 2008
O. B. Douglas (Thames Valley, UK)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Well what a book. I really, really enjoyed this. Most '911' books leave me cold and are mostly just male American writers getting even farther up themselves than usual. This is very different, written by a very talented Irishman, even including cricket which is enough in itself to make me read it. (You don't have to be remotely interested in cricket to enjoy this). You do need to like well written thoughtful explorations of the male psyche, reflections on difference, marriage, immigration, trust, closeness and suspicion. It is rich, driven at a real pace and just wonderful, read it, read it, even blokes will like it.
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