Heavy snow and difficult travel expected again, heaviest snow in southern Minnesota

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Susan Kehoe, the manager at 


"The Nix" is a big book. It clocks in at more than 600 pages.

And it sat on Susan Kehoe's book stack for almost a year. She just couldn't find the right moment to dive into Nathan Hill's sprawling novel. But when she finally did this spring, she was hooked.

It's the story of an English professor, trapped in the malaise of a third-rate university. One day, he gets a call about his mother — a woman he hasn't seen since he was a child. She's been arrested, he learns, for protesting an infamous political figure, and now she needs a character witness.

That's just where the story kicks off, but it goes to strange and unexpected places, bouncing among the son's story, the mother's story and even the story of an avid video gamer that Hill winds masterfully through the book. 

Kehoe is not the only one to fall for this book — critics compared Hill to John Irving and Charles Dickens. It might be cliche to call something a Great American novel, Kehoe said, but "The Nix" is one. 

An interview with Nathan Hill, author of "The Nix"

Arts and Culture

The Thread® - Books and Literary News

Ask a bookseller

Tracy Mumford

Author

English professor Samuel Andresen-Anderson hasn't seen his mother since he was a child. Then one day, he gets a call: She's been arrested in a political protest, and she needs a character witness.

'The Nix': English professor Samuel Andresen-Anderson hasn't seen his mother since he was a child. Then one day, he gets a call: She's been arrested in a political protest, and she needs a character witness.

This big book could carry you through the summer

Go Deeper.

Like this?