Video: Book Review of The Nix by Nathan Hill

Read my full review of The Nix here.

Watch this and other bookish videos on my YouTube channel here.

Oh, how I love The Nix!

It’s a sweeping novel of relationships and personal redemption.

I already gave this book the formal write-up, so here are a few random questions I have from reading The Nix:

How, I mean HOW, is this Nathan Hill’s first novel? He’s only published short stories before this. Wow, that’s a leap.

How based in reality is Laura? Was Nathan Hill actually traumatized by someone like her, or did he let his imagination go wild?

What does the song “You Have Got to Represent” sound like? I think we need a recording, heavy on auto-tune and a cameo by Nicki Minaj (or the hot rapper du jour).

OK, I did some Googling because I’m impatient and don’t mean these questions to be strictly rhetorical. Here are some answers I found:

The Nix is not exactly an overnight sensation.

Hill took ten years to write it. Yes, ten years. And it was originally even longer. Approximately 400 pages were chopped during editing. Source.

Laura is sort of an amalgam of student horror stories Hill and his colleagues experienced (kids these days!) with a twist of satire and imagination. Hill states he now thinks she is the smartest character in the book. I would call bull$#!+ on that one since she is so self unaware, but, well, he is the author. Source.

Still waiting to hear that auto-tuned “You Have Got to Represent.” Impatiently.

It is no secret I am a fan of The Nix. Do not be intimidated by its length. Just dig in.