June 2010 meeting

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The novel

Netherland

by
Joseph O'Neill

At the heart of O'Neill's book stands Chuck Ramkissoon, a larger-than-life hustler and Gatsby-like self-inventor who feels that "the US is not complete, the US has not fulfilled its destiny, it's not fully civilised, until it has embraced the game of cricket". Born in Trinidad and descended from indentured Indian labourers, Chuck - or Khamraj, as he was previously known - operates a numbers racket and a kosher sushi business. But he also has grandiose ambitions for New York's cricketing scene. Cricket, in New York, is played almost exclusively by Caribbean and south Asian immigrants in inhospitable parks in the outer boroughs. Chuck dreams of a stadium, international fixtures, advertising revenues and TV rights. To this end, he lays down a fragile square of turf on a site that he patriotically names Bald Eagle Field.

Chuck's story - which we're told at the start will conclude with his body being found in a Brooklyn canal - is pieced together for the reader by Hans van den Broek, a very different kind of immigrant. Hans is a Dutchman who comes to New York from London, where he launches a career as an oil-futures analyst and marries a successful English lawyer called Rachel. The two of them move to the US in 1998, settle into a loft apartment in Tribeca and happily accumulate several million dollars. But after Hans's mother's death, and then the September 11 attacks, which cause them to move into the Chelsea Hotel, their marriage falls apart. Rachel returns to London with their infant son, while Hans maunders in Manhattan. A chance encounter prompts him to unpack his old cricket gear, which brings him into Chuck's orbit.

Writing a few years later in London (where, it's revealed early on, he's back together with Rachel), Hans sketches out his friendship with Chuck. He is initially mesmerised by Chuck's kindness and then by the scope of his ambition. Chuck's dream, however, ends in violent death, which Hans hears about just as he is putting his family life back together in London. It has been signalled throughout the arc of their friendship, which finally fractures with Hans's belated realisation that he has become unwittingly embroiled in Chuck's other, less lawful, life.

This novel was put forward for discussion by Arno.

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Opinions

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Tips for teachers

Arno's tip: Novel The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell A compelling and savage tale about the raw reality of WWII mass-murder.
Cees's tip: DVD The Adventures Of Huck Finn Action-packed adaptation of Mark Twain's classic adventure about two unlikely friends on a wild trip down the Mississippi; directed by Stephen Sommers.
Ellen's tip: Novel Flatland: A Romance Of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott A deft mixture of social satire and science fiction that poses provocative questions about perception and reality.
Elly's tip: Novel Solar by Ian McEwan A darkly satirical novel, showing human frailty struggling with the most complex problem of our time: global warming.
Madelon's tip: Nonfiction The Island At The Centre Of The World by Russell Shorto The epic story of Dutch Manhattan and the forgotten colony that shaped America.
Marije's tip: Magazine Granta A literary magazine and publisher in the UK, whose mission centres on its belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and nonfiction.
Niek's tip: Nonfiction Oxford & Cambridge: An Uncommon History by Peter Sager A witty and detailed literary guide to Oxbridge, presented through an encyclopedia of facts, figures and anecdotes.