THE NIX:NATHAN HILL

This is a big book, over 600 pages, currently a hot read among the elites (like me).  I really liked the opening chapter as nine year old Samuel Anderson watches his Mom slowly take one piece of her personal belongings to work each day.  And one evening, she does not return home, leaving young Sam with his father, with no answers and he never hears from his Mom again.  Until he's a 34 year old frustrated professor at a university, having written one noteworthy book but since its success, nothing.  He opens the newspaper to see his mother's picture on the front page of the Chicago newspaper, after having been arrested for throwing rocks at the state's xenophobic Governor.

Thus begins Sam's quest to understand the past, his mother, his life.  It takes him back in time to the small town in Iowa where his parents grew up.  Meanwhile, he becomes  embroiled in a plagiarism case at the university.  He catches a privileged coed cheating to her dismay so she takes it to the Dean and wants to see Sam fired for accusing her of plagiarism .  At the same time, his literary agent wants the advance Samuel received for his second book returned but decides Sam could keep it he writes a quick biography about his crazy mother. This is why he ends up in Iowa.

As you can see, lots of subplots are going on and I only mentioned a couple.  This book has gotten rave reviews and I admit to liking it.  Hill is a gifted writer and story teller but he could have used a black sharpie more often.