"Netherland" by Joseph O'Neill (Knopf, ISBN 9780307377043, $23.95)
So far, commentaries on Joseph O'Neill's mostly successful New York novel,
"Netherland," have tended to compare his Trinidadian immigrant character
Chuck Ramkissoon to Fitzgerald's great creation, Jay Gatsby. Fair enough,
but Ramkissoon functions a bit like Aunt Augusta in Graham Greene's novel,
"Travels with My Aunt," as well.
In all of these novels, a somewhat hesitant and detached, but also generally
straightforward and observant first-person narrator (in O'Neill's
"Netherland," Hans van den Brock gets the assignment) becomes involved with
a more uninhibited person, thereby getting another look at life through the
lens of a risk-taker. A novel with this construction can contrast the
benefit and downside of living, as Hans does, an orderly, responsible life,
with the benefit and potentially worse downside of taking a cut at things
with a bigger bat. In "Travels with My Aunt" as well as "Netherland," the
risk-taking characters Aunt Augusta and Ramkissoon, though misguided at
times, have something to teach the more buttoned-up narrators about life. It
is in this realm that "Netherland" offers a rewarding reading experience.
The scenario breaks down as follows: The aforementioned Hans (hailing
originally from The Hague) comes to New York with his English wife, Rachel.
Although they're both successful financially, they soon get worn out by the
demands of the business world, daily living, and anxiety from September
11th. Rachel eventually informs Hans that she's going back to England, and
that Hans is not invited. Hans therefore has some time on his hands to
ponder his place in the universe and he becomes involved with Ramkissoon,
who shares his childhood love for the game of cricket. Not only does
Ramkissoon love the game, but he's somehow convinced himself that it ought
to be introduced to the American people on a grand scale. In addition,
everyone had better believe that he's ready to roll the dice.
It's probably fair to say that novels, even when quite good, tend to have
strengths and weaknesses. Although there's certainly room for discussion on
this, my take on "Netherland" is that the Ramkissoon narrative is more
persuasive than the domestic narrative with Rachel. The latter character is
not as engaging or as vividly drawn as Ramkissoon, and I got impatient with
Hans in the first one hundred pages as he went on a bit about his marital
dilemma. (Truth to tell, I alternated between wanting to jump into the
narrative and tell him to either get over it or get off his duff and do
something about it.)
But that's where Ramkissoon, the risk-taker, comes in. The reader gets a
taste of this memorable fellow early on, and O'Neill teases a bit throughout
the first one hundred pages to the point where, just when the borderline
maudlin domestic narrative threatens to tempt an impatient sort like me to
put the book aside, Ramkissoon comes strolling back on stage and life is
beautiful again. I read the last one hundred and fifty pages in one sitting,
and got a nice bang for my buck. The Ramkissoon cricket narrative, in the
second half of the work, gets going in earnest and begins to play on
metaphorical levels, which is what the fictional world is all about.
"Netherland," then, stakes its claim to narrative greatness on the extent to
which Ramkissoon's wicked swing of the cricket bat connects with the reader,
and this great American dreamer of a character does step on to the playing
field with some unexpected magic in his repertoire.
Review by Todd
Robins, July 3, 2008
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