Netherland Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, and our BookBrowse Review of Netherland.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

About The Book

Joseph O'Neill's Netherland is the mesmerizing story of a European man living in New York City after 9/11, with two troubled loves--that for his wife, and that for his adopted country. Told in a lyrical voice, the story of his journey involves an immersion in the cricket-playing subculture of the city, a tragic friendship with a Trinidadian immigrant, and a darkening understanding of the great American narrative. It is a story of heritage and home, of sports and work, of friendship and love, and it ultimately offers universal truths about the search for meaning in life and the hope for renewal.


Reader's Guide

1. Describe the structure of Netherland. Why does the author open with Hans moving to New York City and then quickly jump into the future with Chuck's death and then jump back? Do you think these flashbacks and foward leaps relate to the narrative arc of the story? Is this simply how we tell stories? When you tell a story do you tell it chronologically? Why?
2. Childhood often slips into the story--that of both Hans and Chuck. Early on in the novel, Hans mentions that he doesn't connect to himself as a child ("I, however, seem given to self-estrangement"), then proceeds to produce numerous memories of his childhood and of his mother. How is this reconnecting with his heritage and his past important to the story? How is Chuck often the catalyst for these memories?
3. Chuck is more connected to his heritage than Hans. He socializes with others from the West Indies; he's marriees to a woman from his birth country, et cetera. How do flashbacks to his childhood differ from Hans's and how do they affect the novel as a whole?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Vintage. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.