海角大神

'The Nix' cleverly mixes politics and a troubled mother-son relationship

Nathan Hill's smart, empathetic novel involves an anti-immigrant politician and a disappearing mom.

Nathan Hill has remarkable timing. He started writing his debut novel, The Nix, 12 years ago, but it鈥檚 hard to imagine it could have been more topical if he鈥檇 begun 12 weeks ago.

In 2011, a woman flings some rocks at an anti-immigrant politician, Governor Packer, whose career is fueled by 鈥渁n antielitist populism and found a receptive audience especially among blue-collar white conservatives put out by the current recession.鈥� The Packer Attacker, as she鈥檚 dubbed in the media, is soon decried as a 鈥渢errorist, radical, hippie, prostitute teacher.鈥�

Professor Samuel Andreson-Anderson knows her by a different name: Mom. And he hasn鈥檛 seen her since she walked out on him and his dad when he was 11.

Samuel was left with questions about his mom鈥檚 鈥渁cres of secrets鈥� and a collection of Norwegian ghost stories his mother used to terrify him with at bedtime. One of those was the title character, 鈥淭he Nix,鈥� a spirit that would appear to children as a white horse. When the child got on its back, it would run faster and faster until it leaped off cliffs into the sea. When Faye鈥檚 father told her the story, 鈥渉e said the moral was: Don鈥檛 trust things that are too good to be true.鈥� For her part, Faye told Samuel the moral was, 鈥淭he things you love the most will one day hurt you the worst.鈥� (She also told him 鈥渆very memory is a scar.鈥� 鈥淎nd they all lived happily ever after鈥� was apparently not in the Andreson-Anderson family vocabulary.)

While he has a four-piece, matching set of emotional baggage he鈥檚 been lugging around since he was a pre-teen, Anderson claims to be preoccupied with his current troubles. Once, he was a 鈥減romising鈥� writer who won acclaim and a book contract on the strength of the first 鈥� and, it turns out only 鈥� short story he published. Now an English professor, he鈥檚 tangling with a student, Laura Pottsdam, who turned in the same plagiarized term paper on 鈥淗amlet鈥� she used in high school. (This recycled cheating actually seems like uncharacteristic sloppiness from Laura, a budding CEO-type and social media maven, who has delegated all of her pesky 鈥渨ork鈥� to various besotted minions.)

She certainly isn鈥檛 going to allow a rude professor to stigmatize her by calling her a 鈥渃heater鈥� and destroy her career over 鈥淗amlet,鈥� which she鈥檚 never going to need in the future anyway. College is supposed to be a 鈥渟afe space,鈥� isn鈥檛 it? While 鈥淭he Nix鈥� isn鈥檛 a campus novel like Richard Russo鈥檚 鈥淪traight Man鈥� or Francine Prose鈥檚 鈥淏lue Angel, Hill deftly satirizes academia over the course of a tour de force sequence of arguments. Here鈥檚 just one: 鈥淲riting a paper for Professor Anderson triggers negative feelings of stress and vulnerability. It feels oppressive. If I write a paper using my own words, he鈥檒l give me a bad grade and I鈥檒l feel bad about myself. Do you think I should have to feel bad about myself in order to get a degree?鈥澛犅�

And Samuel鈥檚 publisher is threatening to sue him for the never-completed novel 鈥� unless he agrees to write a tell-all about his mom.

鈥淭he Nix鈥� is smart without being pretentious 鈥� the novel mixes a family history with political, social, and academic commentary with Choose Your Own Adventure stories and a fictional World of Warcraft called Elfscape. There Samuel (aka Dodger the Elven Thief) feels more alive than he does teaching 鈥淗amlet鈥� to deeply unmotivated students.

Hill goes back to the 1980s to Samuel鈥檚 childhood and a pair of siblings with whom his life becomes entwined; and then follows Faye back to college in 1968 Chicago, the site of the Democratic National Convention riots; and then traces her father鈥檚 past in Norway. While it鈥檚 a big book, clocking in at 600+ pages, 鈥淭he Nix鈥� isn鈥檛 ponderous.

And, with one exception, it鈥檚 hard to imagine Hill excising anything. Certainly, this reader would never want to lose the Choose Your Own Adventure story he includes at the heart of the novel. However, there鈥檚 a subplot involving a fellow gamer named Pwnage that doesn鈥檛 add much 鈥� except an unfortunate 11-page long sentence about a character a reader isn鈥檛 terribly invested in.

But in addition to being a smart novel, 鈥淭he Nix鈥� is an empathetic one, as in this description of the panic attacks Faye had since she was a child: 鈥淚t didn鈥檛 feel like she was panicking; it felt more like she was being forcibly and methodically deactivated all over. Like a wall of televisions being turned off one by one 鈥� how the images on each TV shrank to pinholes before disappearing altogether.鈥�

One character tells Samuel that knowing his mom鈥檚 story won鈥檛 change anything 鈥� 鈥渢he past is the past.鈥� Another echoes Pilate, asking 鈥淲hat鈥檚 true?鈥� He points out that the world 鈥渉as pretty much given up on the old Enlightenment idea of piecing together the truth based on observed data.鈥� Reality is too complicated: 鈥渋t鈥檚 way easier to ignore all data that doesn鈥檛 fit your preconceptions and believe all data that does.鈥�

But Samuel is a dogged gamer who used to leave a bookmark at pivotal points in his beloved Choose Your Own Adventures, so he could go back and try again if the story didn鈥檛 end well. 鈥淢ore than anything he wants life to behave this way.鈥� This quest isn鈥檛 exactly a reset, but it鈥檚 a chance for both mother and son to make different choices.

鈥淲hat we think of as forgetting really isn鈥檛,鈥� Samuel鈥檚 mom tells him. 鈥淣ot strictly speaking. We never actually forget things. We only lose the path back to them.鈥�

In Hill鈥檚 generous novel, the two get a chance to forge a new path.