Netherland

by: Joseph O'Neill

Published by: Pantheon Books (May 27 release)

Reviewed by Julie Failla Earhart

In Joseph O’Neill’s Netherland, Hans van der Broek is a Dutch-born/English resident who follows Rachael, his lawyer-wife to New York for a two-year stay. There he has no trouble landing a job as an oil banker/analyst.

The novel opens with the van der Broeks’ departure and by page five, they are back in England, trying to make sense of some sad news. It seems that a reporter for the New York Times has called them to get some information on Hans’ Trinidadian friend and mentor, Chuck Ramkisson, whose handcuffed “remains” have been found. Foul play is suspected.

From that revelation, the novel borders on a touch of mystery as it weaves back and forth (where O’Neill shows off his skill as a writer) between Hans’ stay in America and his current life in England. But that thread of plot line is extremely limited.

Not long after the van der Broeks’ settle into Manhattan, 9/11 occurs. They are forced to move into the Chelsea Hotel where their martial problems mount. Soon Rachel takes their son and returns to Britain to live with her parents.

Left behind, Hans stumbles his way onto a cricket field and meets Chuck. It seems there is an entire subculture of immigrant cricket players all over the peninsula. Chuck’s dream is to reclaim cricket as America’s original sport and remove its immigrant-stereotype shroud.

Speaking of stereotypes, O’Neill does a fabulous job in placing his novel nowhere near the typical New York scene. I saw a New York that I had never seen before. I also know more about cricket and what it takes to have the perfect playing field than I ever wanted to know.

The long, winding, and often rambling sentence structure functions as the gateway to the novels themes of disconnectedness and disenfranchisement. Still, the only thing that kept me reading was to know more about how Chuck ended up face down in a drainage ditch.

To say I was disappointed in the ending is an understatement. It was flat, and when I turned the final page, I was surprised to learn the story was over. No big aha moment, no epiphany, just a guy moseying through life.

Armchair Interviews says: Heed this reviewer’s comments.