Netherland
O'Neill, Joseph

Description

Tipped for the 2008 Booker Prize, Joseph O'Neill's novel "Netherland" adds to the "Post 9/11 New York Life" genre which is finally and inevitably burgeoning (following in the footsteps of Don DeLillo's "Falling Man" and Mohsin Hamid's "The Reluctant Fundamentalist"). Somehow though, O'Neill manages to build the unusual niche topic of American cricket. The novel's focus is Hans van den Broek, a Dutch banker plying his trade in Manhattan. The immediate impact of 9/11 on his life is the departure of his English lawyer wife and their young son to the perceived relative safety of London and the unravelling of his young marriage. Finding himself alone and frustrated, living amongst a bizarre cast of characters in the infamous Chelsea Hotel, Hans seeks out a Staten Island cricket team  - a gang of moderately talented and hugely enthusiastic Indians, Pakistanis and West Indians forced to play at off-peak times on sub-standard pitches. But wannabe cricket entrepreneur Chuck Ramkisoon has great plans for the promotion of the sport in New York and Hans finds himself drawn to this larger than life (and really rather sketchy) self-styled sporting entrepreneur. A wistful moody novel about life (and cricket) in terrorist-era New York.

Paperback - Harperperenial - 2009

Price: £7.99

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