Gardening Sale!
 
 

Special Offers see all

Enter to WIN!

Weekly drawing for $100 credit. Subscribe to our Specials newsletter for a chance to win.
Privacy Policy

More at Powell's

Recently Viewed clear list

Guests | May 6, 2013

Benjamin Percy: IMG The Roof People

1 comment By Benjamin Percy

My sister slept with the light on until she was 27. She rightfully blames me. I would leap out of closets with my hands made into claws. I would... Continue »
  1. $18.19 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

    Red Moon

    Benjamin Percy 9781455501663
spacer

Netherland (Vintage Contemporaries)

by

Netherland (Vintage Contemporaries) Cover

ISBN13: 9780307388773
ISBN10: 0307388778
Condition: Standard
All Product Details

 

Awards

Winner of The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction 2009
back to top

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

“A pulsing, profound novel.” —Entertainment Weekly

“Asks enormous questions about cosmic truth—and its effect on those who think they own it—with intensity, intellectual rigor and abiding morality.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“Precise and passionate . . . stunning.” —Philadelphia Inquirer

Jerusalem: home to seekers, heretics, hustlers, and madmen of many faiths. In this most fractious city, a plot unfolds to bomb the sacred Temple Mount.

Christopher Lucas, an expatriate American journalist, stumbles upon the plot while investigating religious fanatics. Entangled in the intrigue are a nightclub singer, an unstable Jewish guru, a strung-out Kabbalist seeking the messiah, and a soldier of fortune routinely found at the world’s violent clashes. A confrontation in Gaza, a chase through riot-filled streets, a cat-and-mouse game in an underground maze—as Lucas races against time, he uncovers the duplicity and depravity on all sides of Jerusalem’s sacred struggle.

An explosive 1998 bestseller,Damascus Gatelays bare the dangers at the fringes of faith.

Synopsis:

The author of "Blood-Dark Track" delivers a mesmerizing novel about a man trying to make his way in an America of shattered hopes and values, and the unlikely occurrences that pull him back into an authentic, passionately engaged life.

Synopsis:

New York Times Book Review Best Book of the Year 

In a New York City made phantasmagorical by the events of 9/11, and left alone after his English wife and son return to London, Hans van den Broek 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. As the two men share their vastly different experiences of contemporary immigrant life in America, an unforgettable portrait emerges of an "other" New York populated by immigrants and strivers of every race and nationality.

back to top

About the Author

Joseph ONeill was born in Cork, Ireland, in 1964 and grew up in Mozambique, South Africa, Iran, Turkey, and Holland. His previous works include the novels This Is the Life and The Breezes and the nonfiction book Blood-Dark Track, a family history centered on the mysterious imprisonment of both his grandfathers during World War II, which was a New York Times Notable Book. He writes regularly for The Atlantic Monthly. He lives with his family in New York City.
back to top

What Our Readers Are Saying

Add a comment for a chance to win!
Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
julieb43, December 16, 2009 (view all comments by julieb43)
Although knowing nothing at all about cricket, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. The writing is lyrical, with many vivid descriptions of New York, London, and Holland.

The two main characters, a transplanted Dutchman and a transplanted Trinidadian living in N.Y. are richly drawn and sympathetic. Each has his own failings, yet each strives for something better. The game of cricket is what connects them and becomes a metaphor for an idealized America.

The novel is slim but challenging. There are many descriptions of cricket, which I found acceptable as they invariably led to philosophical musings by the main characters.

I can see the comparisons to The Great Gatsby in that the writing evokes a sense of nostalgia for an America that no longer exists (pre-9/11), as well as the nostalgic reminiscences of childhood. It's also an evocation of an idealized way of life.

Chuck, the Trinidadian, is similar to Jay Gatsby in that he's a dreamer (and an outsider), having grandiose plans for a better America, as he sees it.

The novel almost reads as a memoir, as Hans interweaves his personal memories of growing up in the Netherlands with his present-day life as a transplanted Londoner in New York, and the assorted characters he meets--Chuck being the most vivid.

It's also a meditation on marriage as Hans describes the long road to reuniting with his wife and son as he takes stock of his life in N.Y. and manages to grow up.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(8 of 13 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment
back to top

Product Details

ISBN:
9780307388773
Author:
O'Neill, Joseph
Publisher:
Vintage Books USA
Author:
Stone, Robert
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
New york (n.y.)
Subject:
Immigrants
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Copyright:
2009
Edition Description:
Trade Paper
Series:
Vintage Contemporaries
Publication Date:
20090531
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
272
Dimensions:
8 x 5.31 in 1 lb
back to top

Other books you might like

  1. Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories... New Trade Paper $15.95
  2. The White Tiger
    Used Trade Paper $4.95
  3. The Likeness
    Used Trade Paper $4.95
  4. Believers Used Mass Market $3.95
  5. Blood Meridian: Or the Evening...
    Used Trade Paper $8.00
  6. Out Stealing Horses
    Used Trade Paper $6.95
back to top

Related Subjects


Featured Titles » Miscellaneous Award Winners
Fiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z
History and Social Science » American Studies » Popular Culture

Netherland (Vintage Contemporaries) Used Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$7.95 In Stock
Product details 272 pages Vintage Books USA - English 9780307388773 Reviews:
"Synopsis" by , The author of "Blood-Dark Track" delivers a mesmerizing novel about a man trying to make his way in an America of shattered hopes and values, and the unlikely occurrences that pull him back into an authentic, passionately engaged life.
"Synopsis" by , New York Times Book Review Best Book of the Year 

In a New York City made phantasmagorical by the events of 9/11, and left alone after his English wife and son return to London, Hans van den Broek 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. As the two men share their vastly different experiences of contemporary immigrant life in America, an unforgettable portrait emerges of an "other" New York populated by immigrants and strivers of every race and nationality.
spacer
spacer
  • back to top
Follow us on...




Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.