Nathan Hill - the author of the wonderful “The Nix” invites you to “Come With” on a journey into his brilliant second novel.

It was many years in the gestation, starting with a short story the author wrote some twenty years ago and which now opens this novel: two twenty-somethings (Jack an abstract photographer, and Elizabeth a scientist) both having moved to Chicago to escape their very different but equally difficult families, observing each other in secret over either side of a narrow alleyway between their apartments and slowly fall in love with how they perceive the other person could complement their own perceived inadequacies (while assuming the other is out of their reach).

From there the novel moves back and forth in time, exploring: the next 20 or so years of their relationship (including marriage, parenthood and the planned purchase of their forever home – a purpose built appartment in a trendy new development); as well as moving back to their childhoods (and some cases even before). The author has talked of this as a love story involving three characters with the third being time.

What though really distinguishes the book most of all is its detailed, and extensively researched exploration of the mind and relationships, the placebo effect, IT algorithms and human behavioural heuristics and so much more – all really in the service of exploring the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we allow others to tell about us.

In the acknowledgements, alongside a list of references that would put many non-fiction books to shame (and not just those written by the future chancellor of the UK), the author issues a “generalized thank-you to all the psychologists, sociologists, neurologists, evolutionary biologists, economists, sexologists, therapists, philosophers, doctors, data scientists, and everyone else working so hard to understand our strange, unruly, miraculous, and messy minds.”

In interviews he has talked brilliantly of his accretive writing process as like Slime “It’s sticky and goopy and really gross, and it drips through your fingers. But the more you play with it, the more it picks up the stuff of the world, the crumbs and bits of dirt or whatever. Weirdly, writing a novel feels like that — it’s this malformed idea that just collects things. With this book, any time I encountered something that was about delusion, belief, stories that shape our world, I thought, “Maybe this belongs in the book.” So, placebo, art, love are all, in a way, about this belief: two or more people sharing the same stories. I would encounter one of these things and think, “That belongs in the book. Let’s stick this to the slime and see what happens.”

And the book is also distinguished by a number of really bravura sections

“The Unravelling” features Elizabeth struggling over a couple of hours with a trip to the supermarket with their young child, her struggles she thinks despite (but in practice more because of) her extensive scientifically motivated research into parenthood. The chapter itself is replete with some 50 or more citations from IRL Child Psychology studies – a clever and deliberate attempt by Hill, in a book which deals heavily with ill-informed misinformation and deliberately-deceptive disinformation, to address the issue of being overwhelming from seemingly well-intentioned but perhaps context-inappropriate information – he has said “Parents now have access to all the ways that they might be screwing up their kids. A lot of my friends became parents at the same time, so I was watching them go through this panic. These are thoughtful, good parents who every day thought they were failures because they might have done one thing wrong, and this relentless need to be perfect felt like it was just eating up their souls”

“The House of At Least Fourteen Forgotten Gables” sets out pen portraits of previous generations of Elizabeth’s Augustine forbears – who have accrued wealth by a variety of convoluted exploitative or morally-dubious ventures (or even just pure scams) – a family history she has deliberately rejected (including any share of family wealth).

“The Meaning Effect” tells us about Elizabeth’s work at a foundation called “Wellness” which seeks to test and typically debunk homeopathic and other alternative medical treatments typically through testing against placebos. Elizabeth though increasingly becomes fascinated with the efficacy of the placebo effect (which she relabels the “Meaning Effect” due to her recognition that the “placebo effect was elicited by the sense of significance and substance surrounding the placebo itself; the context, story, ritual, metaphor and beliefs associated with the placebo. The placebo’s effect was, in fact, the brain’s response to finding meaning.”). Cleverly then Elizabeth decides, on the retirement of her mentor, to repurpose Wellness as a treatment clinic using undisclosed placebos, something which she tells herself is well intentioned, but we realise over time can also be seen as simply her adding her own inheritance to her family’s generational scams.

Later in the same section, a couple angling for a potentially polyamorous partnership proceed to precisely dissect Jack and Elizabeth’s marriage, and the way in which the other person’s behaviour – and real character - is almost the opposite of what first attracted them, in two 1-1 conversations.

“The Needy Users - A Drama in Seven Algorithms” is another on-point and brilliantly researched section – using the author’s painstaking reading of Facebook’s algorithm patent applications to look at how big tech platforms work, how they draw users in and how they deal with storytelling, he has said of his research “it doesn't know if a story is true or false, it just wants you to engage with it. It has no capability of discerning truth from falsity, from reality, from conspiracy—and nor does it seem to want to.” – all in the context of a online debate between Jack and his conspiracy theorist father.

As with “The Nix” the book is eminently quotable and really there is so much more I could say about this novel – but let’s leave it as that its one of my favourites of 2023 and that I believe it is a brilliantly told story about storytelling and belief.

Hugely talented author, well-rounded characters, but if it was shorter it might have left more of an impact on me. Highly recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley and Picador for the ARC in exchange for an unbiased review of this popular and well-written novel.

*** this arc was really difficult to read, the formatting was dreadful and it was incredibly difficult to read . I was really enjoying the book but had to give up at 30% as it was ruining what I knew was as going to be an excellent read. I was delighted to see an earlier than noted publication date and bought the book immediately and loved it. ***

Wellness by Nathan Hill.

This is a story about a marriage, about growing up and into your life , the search for happiness and fulfillment and about the stories we tell ourselves, our own personal folklore. It's an observation and examination of human behaviour and it educated me, entertained me, answered two questions I have had for a long time and made me feel a range of emotions along its lengthy way.

Jack and Elizabeth meet as students in the 90s, revelling in the thriving underground art scene of Chicago. Twenty years later they are struggling to strive. Parenting is challenging , so are the next steps to their forever home. Careers stall and change and their relationship is buckling from the strain. This is the framework for this book but it travels down so many paths. At times, it reads like non fiction and it never fails to be engaging. From supplements and health trackers, polygamy, art, corporate parlance, childhood trauma,Facebook and google algorithms, gentrification, falling apart in a supermarket, conspiracy theories, parenting and the constant quest to be better, be authentic, be real, live our best lives. It is the perfect ,at times cynical at others heart wrenching ,account of life in the 21st century.

I genuinely learned so much when reading this as the author deep dives into so many elements of contemporary society. The writing is original , warm, funny and detailed. It goes to unexpected places but at its heart it is a love story, a study of a marriage and it inhabitants.

One of the most original , vast and entertaining books I have read this year and worthy of it’s hype. Recommend.

4.5 -5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"Wellness" by Nathan Hill is a deeply moving and thought-provoking novel. Hill's storytelling skillfully explores the complexities of mental health, family dynamics, and the human quest for well-being. A compelling and introspective read.

Well this was lovely.

Nathan Hill’s ‘Wellness’ gives us a glimpse into the lives of Jack and Elizabeth as their marriage/lives/worlds slowly begin to crumble before them as they come to the middle section of their lives. Having been together since they were very young, they start to question whether they are right for each other after all, and whether such a thing as a soulmate actually exists.

This is a novel that really shines in its character development. At over 600 pages, Hill gives himself plenty of space to create fully-realised, relatable characters, and to observe them as teenagers through to married parents of an 8-year old decades later. Told in a non-linear format, the novel jumps frequently from showing the characters as adults and then flashing back to decades before, as though to justify their actions and show why they are the way that they’ve ended up. The storytelling is impressive, and results in two central characters who you completely side with even when they’re wrong, and genuinely care about.

There are so many smart, philosophical ideas at play here - it’s rare to find a novel with such a thorough bibliography of psychology papers and academic articles, but Hill’s efforts create a novel that really feels like it has something to say about the human experience and the human mind. Texts are even occasionally cited within the novel as characters justify their thinking with reference to relevant literature, but never in a way that feels forced and only adds to the realism of their neuroses.

Hill’s prose is witty and smart, perfectly balanced against a subject matter which is also deeply emotional and, in some flashbacks, genuinely devastating. This is a really intelligent, perfectly pitched and beautifully written novel about ordinary human lives, and well worth the time invested in reading. I’ll be sure to check out Hill’s previous novel ‘The Nix’ too.

Thanks to Netgalley and Pan MacMillan for the e-ARC!

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Wellness
by Nathan Hill

When I received a copy of this a few months ago it went towards the back of my TBR because it doesn't publish here in Ireland until January, but in the meantime it has been published in the US, it is Oprah's October pick and early reviews piqued my interest so much that I broke my own rule and promoted it to next-up.

I had to. Here's why. I am very much a "go in blind" kind of reader. I rely heavily on what several of my most trusted sources have to say about a book because they never spoil, but when they say certain things, I know I'm onto a winner. So when, to a person, they say about this story "I don't know how to talk about this book", "I am still trying to work out what this book is about", that's not because these are inarticulate reviewers. They are some of the smartest readers I know, so I had no choice. I had to read it for myself.

And guess what? I SIMPLY DON'T KNOW HOW TO TALK ABOUT THIS BOOK.

Take a midlife couple, in mid marriage. Alternate perspectives to reveal their relationship origin with a very 90s setting. Take a scalpel and a microscope to every. little. detail of their partnership and parenting. Cram in every possible element that defines the parts of our culture that are integral to this particular generation. Translate it into wikispeak and therapese. Set aside 15 to 18 hours of reading time.

You will laugh, you will cry, you might see yourself, you might see your partner. You might even seek your partner to say "See? Not just us". You might see some of the people who make up your family and your community and perhaps laugh at all the things we have thought and practiced and maybe your eyes will be opened and hopefully we will all be a little kinder to ourselves.

But you'll have to read this book yourself to know what it is about.

Publication date: 25th January 2024
Thanks to #netgalley ⏬ ⏬ ⏬

The proof copy I was sent was totally unreadable. Not the quality of the work. But the text is all over the place, random codes down the page, weird spacing, text scattered, missing punctuation.

I'm giving the book 5 stars because I don't want this review to effect the author and his book. I'll just buy a copy when it is out. But do look into the Proof you're sending around maybe.

This was a really interesting novel, funny in places but also touching and a great insight into life.

It is lengthy at over 600 pages however it is not one of those long books which feels like a struggle to finish.

Highly recommended to all

Wellness opens with as perfect a beginning to any book I’ve ever read, it instantly grabbed my attention and I knew immediately this was writing I would enjoy. It reminded me of the short story the 100% perfect girl, the only Murakami I recommend.

The book moves from one perspective to another between the two main characters, husband and wife Jack and Elizabeth. We are given insights from their careers, their childhoods, their family history (Elizabeth’s being particularly interesting), lessons on psychological behaviour, art history, farming, some more interesting than others but it made for a varied reading experience, keeping this reader on her toes, never quite sure what to next expect.

It felt rather like three books in one, what might have happened if Elizabeth Strout had combined her Amgash series with Lucy into one singular work. It was occasionally disorienting but I’d struggle to identify any content I’d remove. It all felt so necessary, so relevant, all tied together in gloriously clever, intricate ways as we learn more and more about what brought Jack and Elizabeth together and what’s tearing them apart. I devoured every single word relating to this tortured, pained pair, their secrets and their traumas. I loved it until the closing chapters, which I didn’t feel feel did the rest of the book justice, the only reason this isn’t 5*

“It is an odd feeling, to sense one’s aliveness, for perhaps the very first time, to understand that life up until this point was not being lived, exactly; it was being endured.”