Nathan Hill has created a magnificent contemporary-modern day mega door-stopper at 624 pages.

The characters are interesting with self-doubt angst, hopes and dreams…..
There’s an abundance of topics and themes exploring thoughts, feelings, and motivations.

Jack and Elizabeth (our love couple) first met in the 90’s while in college in Chicago. They each gave the storytelling in ‘Wellness’ personality-spice.

Chicago was thriving in the 90’s with the underground art scene inspiring creativity, individuality, and independence.

Elizabeth and Jack both came to Chicago for similar reasons—to escape where they came from.
Nathan Hill took his time developing Jack and Elizabeth—delicious time—allowing for the mystique and desire to grow between them.
We could feel the penchant yearning arousal before they even met.

They lived across the alley from each and could see into each other’s windows…
The beginning teasers (peeking into each others windows) were enthralling to read even before they eventually met.

“The boy in the window seems different…he exudes a kindness and gentleness and restraint. That’s a radical departure from the world dominating ethos Elizabeth moved to Chicago to escape. Jack Baker is considerate—or at least she believes him to be considerate, believes he would be a considerate person, a considerate lover. She believes this because of the many private scenes she is witnessed from her place at her window, his tiny small moments of careful attentiveness: the books of literature and poetry and philosophy he reads late into the night, the way he patiently looks at so many negatives until he’s found the right one, the way he hides sheepishly behind this long bangs. Even his choice of career— photographer— strikes her as pleasingly self- effacing”.

“Thus, they do not speak, and the winter nights pass slowly, glacially, the ice coating tree branches like barnacles. All season it’s the same: when his light is off, he is watching her; when her light is off, she is watching him. And on nights she isn’t home, he sits there, feeling, dejected, desperate, maybe even a little pathetic, and he gazes upon her window and feels like time is zipping away, opportunities gone, feels like he is losing a race with the life he wishes he could lead. And on the nights she isn’t home, she sits there feeling forsaken, feeling once again so bluntly dented by the world, and she examines his window like it’s an aquarium, hoping to see some wonderful thing irrupt from the gloom”.

And then they meet … at a local bar ……
“Come with” . . . “what an odd and curious delightful thing to say”.
Jack utters the first two words to Elizabeth: “Come with”.
To Elizabeth, what Jack said, sounded refreshingly and charmingly and perfect. He held out his hand and looked at her with no guile whatsoever.
None of her friends from her many private schools wouldn’t ever talk like that. They would use proper and complete sentences such as “Would you care to leave this place?”

“She’s Elizabeth; she’s from New England. He’s Jack; he’s from the Great Plains, Kansas. He’s studying photography at the Art Institute. She’s at Depaul majoring in cognitive psychology and also behavior economics and also evolutionarily biology, and also neuroscience”……
and ….
if four majors weren’t enough for Elizabeth …..she also enjoyed theater and was minoring in music theory, just for fun.
Plus….. Elizabeth planned on auditing a few courses in ethnographic sociology.
Basically, she was studying the whole human condition…..coming at it from every possible angle.

Fast forward twenty years to married life, and alongside the challenges of parenting, they encountered cults, disguised as mindfulness support groups, polyamorous would be suitors, Facebook, wars, and something called Love Potion number nine.

A philosophical divide began when Jack and Elizabeth were putting down what they called ‘forever roots’…….
building their ‘forever house’. Disagreements began over kitchen cabinets, whether to have open shelves or closed shelves…and weather their new home should reflect their current reality (messy Tupperware and sippy toddler cups) or future aspirations (beautiful kitchen food prep designs) …. In other words, should they design their kitchen based on how they actually lived or how they wanted to live?

Construction design differences were just the beginning of troubles between Elizabeth and Jack.
Jack was teaching in the photography department in Chicago. He seemed content. He loved his wife, enjoyed, pleasing her, and loved their little boy named Toby.
Elizabeth on the other hand—was a go-getter at work and at home…. it took much more for her to feel ‘pleased’.

‘Wellness’ is the name of the company where Elizabeth works. It’s a cult-ish operation conglomerate inserting placebos as healing—ha, never mind scientifically studied medicine.

“Elizabeth’s lab was not ever explicitly called the Institute for Placebo Studies, for as soon as people saw that on the door and understood they were getting a placebo, they stopped, believing in the placebo‘s story, and thus the placebo effect no longer applied. Hence the vague and intentionally genetic name, ‘Wellness’, a word that could mean whatever they wanted it to me, convenient for a job, where the primary duty was to invent alternate stories for people to believe it, and then test the efficacy of those stories”.
“For example: How do you test whether the SlimSkirt is a good product or merely a good story? You change the story. What if instead of telling people it’s a leg-strengthening skirt, you told them it’s a movement- inhibiting skirt? what if you told them—as Elizabeth did, and a particularly satisfying and elegant study—that the skirt was designed for people with leg injuries to prevent them from overworking their leg muscles? And then you had them walk around and what Elizabeth told them was the RestrictSkirt for a month?
What would happen?”
“What happened was that these people came back complaining that their leg muscles had atrophied, and that they felt tired, and lazy, and tired, and that they’d gained weight, which, by the way, they had”.
“So, bingo. The SlimSkirt was effective due not to the thing itself but to the story surrounding the thing”.

At some point, ‘Wellness’ was being asked, for the first time, not to identify bullshit, but to create it”.

Elizabeth was so obsessive about raising her son (Toby - a toddler) perfectly…..
but at times she imagined him after years of the diet she was feed him, malnourished, obese, friendless, lonely, his brain fueled not by vitamins and minerals but by saturated fat, his skin and his hair tinted a synthetic orange”.

Elizabeth had nutty parent compulsions, like, if Toby (two-years old) stared at the laptop screen, for too long, she worried about his possible future Internet addiction. If Toby pushed another child on the playground, she worried about violent masculinity, and Toby’s future juvenile delinquency.

Given this contemporary novel is over 600 pages,
there are many topics and themes: (ha, here are a ‘few’):
….Yoga
….A workshop on psychedelic self-microdosing.
….Ebola casualties
….The Marshmallow Test
….”Dominate your day, gentleman”.
….Superfoods
….House construction
….oxidative stress
….adaptogenic herbs
….project financing
….polyamory/swinging subcultures
….epic landscapes
….Algorithm Impact, social media influence and hypertext link following (note: it’s super-tempting to skim the technical-computer-nerd-sections)…..
….Artists benefactors
….Some things were not worthy of depiction
….illegal immigrants
….” The thing about the prairie (Kansas) was easily mistaken for nothingness
….wealth (luck or perseverance)
….Church
….Worries about measuring up
…. tattooed hipsters versus capitalism?
…. Trendiness
…. Banana pancakes (boring conventional vanilla troubles and/or favorite breakfast)
…. Psychology studies
….Placebo studies
….”People were generally, universally crazy”.
….economics
….volunteering….(repairing trails, taking water samples, examining animal tracks or birds nests, sketching the enormous colorful mushrooms, discovered upon the rotting trunks of fallen trees, etc.)
….toxic poisonous bat shit
….daydreams
….health-conscious snacks—
“a veggie tray of hummus,
marinated tofu, seven varieties of potato chip things made from ingredients that we’re not in fact potatoes: beet chips, Kelp chips, chips of ancient grains” [note: this reader was laughing out loud at how funny ‘we are’ — knowing these items are serious snacks for many people. I was thinking that an ‘apple’ was starting to feel like ‘old school’ food]
….the inefficiencies of the world
….theater, art, photography…
“Leave the art-doing to the geniuses and prodigies. You need to study something practical”…..Dad had told Elizabeth”.
….Advance placement college-prep courses
….”self-sabotaging, untrustworthy, malleable, impulsive, acting according to motivations unknown even to themselves, making everyone miserable. The world described in a microeconomics textbooks were a rational and organized pursuit of maximized happiness”.
….Love
….parenting
[Jack and Elizabeth had one son named Toby]
….health and medicine, dietary supplements,
dentistry, physical therapy, Ayurvedic massage, and other wellness therapies.
…. bio chemical feedback
….marriage
….modern life more modern then life!
….etc etc!

Most….
…..overall, I enjoyed “Wellness” as much as I did “The Nix”. (Nathan Hill’s first book). I thought it was fun!!!
I laughed plenty.

Often the narrative and/or dialogue was hilarious and poignant at the same time.
Here’s an example:
“Mother Teresa?”
“That’s right. Mother Teresa once said she would not go to an anti-war rally, but she would go to a pro-peace rally. She understood that you have to focus on the thing you ‘want’, not the thing you’re ‘against’. So we’re not anti-vaping, we’re pro-health. We’re not anti-knickers, we’re pro-decency. We’re not anti-Styrofoam cup, we’re pro-environment. We’re not anti-leaf blower, we’re pro-peace and quiet” [note: I am ‘anti-leaf blower: I hate those noisy suckers].

The relationship issues between Jack and Elizabeth-later in the book when getting enticing messages about some form of swinging — were spot on authentic.

“Do you want to sleep with Kyle?
Is that what you’re so worried about?”
“I don’t know what to be worried about, Elizabeth. Sometimes I just have no idea what you’re thinking. After all this time together, still, you can be a complete mystery to me”.

Elizabeth had found everything she wanted in Jack. When she left home and came to Chicago, she had no idea what would happen. She just wanted to make a decent life, find a good guy, and maybe have a beautiful family together and living a nice home, and she got all of that.
Jack asked,
“And now you’re bored?”
“No, not bored. Just no longer seduced by the mystery of it all. Life’s big hard questions—What will happen? Who will I become?—have largely been answered. And now I feel like there’s this huge absence where the mystery used to be. And I guess that’s really what I am after”.

I really laughed at Jack’s response to Elizabeth when she said “Let’s not be so plain”.
Jack said, “There is that word again: *plain*”.
Jack realized he had become simple. He had become vanilla. So…. he was ready to go have a new adventure with Elizabeth.

The longer I thought about this book….the longer I thought about the challenges and barriers there is for anyone to feel completely satisfied about their lives:
…..boredom, physical or psychological pain, broken hearts, childhood trauma, stress, one’s own inner critic, etc. are obstacles that we all deal with….
Jack and Elizabeth were both experiencing something missing in their lives — it showed up in their jobs and their relationship—(personally I simply think they represented the human condition.
That said…..
I never once doubted that Jack loved Elizabeth — and
Elizabeth loved Jack.
I loved them both!

Was this book perfect? No — but either is life —
I loved what Ioved though -
and my goodness Nathen Hill still has it!!! This was ‘another’ ambitious undertaking.
I’m soooo glad I read it!
And….
I recommend it.

This book is a big ol' chonker - and while the topic (marriage, pursuit of wellness, time) are universival, the writing style is not. Gobbled up in lengthy sentences, and long drawn out scenes, the story is stretched and bloated as much as possible. As someone who primarily enjoys a clipped and steady pacing, I felt myself getting lost in Hill's world, and not in the romantic way.

<i>The Nix</i> is one of my favorite novels, and after all these years we finally have another novel by Nathan Hill. I requested on Netgalley as soon as it became available. And… it exceeded my wildest expectations. I didn’t think Hill could follow up his debut; honestly, over the last few years I’d kinda assumed he would pull a Harper Lee and simply never publish again.

Yet, here we are.

<i>Wellness</i> is as prescient and biting in 2023 as <i>The Nix</i> was in 2016. The novels are similar in all the important ways: genius, absorbing writing and unique character development and gorgeous, gorgeous passages—seriously, my e-Galley is all marked up with highlights!—but the plots and subject matter are wildly different. Because of my absolute love for/interest in the Vietnam era I think I still prefer <i>The Nix</i>, but it’s awfully damn close. Because this novel of modern marriage and placebos and art and love and SO MUCH MODE is firmly in my top 10, if <i>Nix</i> is in my top 5. This book’s 600+ pages flew; I haven’t had that sort of journey with a book in many months. Whew.

Due out in September! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for this Advanced Review Copy of Wellness by Nathan Hill in exchange for me honest review.

At 624 pages, this novel has a lot to say, especially about the lives of the two main protagonists, Jack and Elizabeth. To a large degree, the author is making fun of current and recent fads that people have taken seriously. He lambasts polyamory, helicopter parenting, social media, cult-like loyalty, the nature of art, and more.

Elizabeth and Jack met in Chicago while in college. It was love at first sight. Both had left their homes to invent themselves anew. Jack attended The Chicago Art Museum School and Elizabeth studied in a conventional college, choosing so many majors that it was difficult to stand out in one. Both came from emotionally abusive families and basically estranged themselves from their families of origin. Jack grew up in Kansas, in the great plains, and Elizabeth comes from money, earned dubiously and unethically for generations. Her family moved around a lot and they never stayed in one place long enough for her to make friends.

Jack is an adjunct art professor in Chicago. His primary medium is photography but it is not the creation of an image that is most important to him. What he strives for is the interaction of the medium that creates the abstract image. Elizabeth works at 'Wellness', a cult-like corporation that is fascinated with the placebo effect. She believes that chronic pain can be cured just as well with placebo as by standard medicine.

It is interesting to note that both of them deal with something that is missing. Jack's photos lack a realistic image and Elizabeth's treatments are fake, despite her belief that placeboes cause improvement.

The novel goes back and forth in time and explores Elizabeth and Jack's relationship and their early lives. In the middle of this, the author goes into great detail about computers, hypertext, and other aspects of the internet and Worldwide Web that were quite a bit above my head. I wasn't sure of the purpose of this aspect of the book, and it took up quite a bit of the novel,

A few times I thought about giving up on this novel but I'm glad I stayed the course. The relationship of Jack and Elizabeth, along with the meaning of love and connection, finally came to bear and all the varied pieces that make up our contemporary lives, melded together. Though lengthy, the novel is a good read and I recommend it.

I fell in love with Elizabeth and Jack from the beginning, and like their relationship, my intrigue and desperation for things to work out kept me reading on throughout this page-turner.
From the descriptions of the settings to the detailed thoughts and subtle exchanges with each character, I truly felt as if I were watching an award-winning movie. I could picture everything described and sometimes forget that I wasn’t a part of the novel. That’s how invested I was.

It’s hard to capture real-life struggles and anxieties in fiction. Still, this thought-provoking novel takes you on a journey that is, at times, rough, dirty, beautiful, and altogether miraculous. Relationships and forging connections with others can be incredibly tedious, but in the end, it is so rewarding, and Hill wonderfully found this in what is currently my favorite novel.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I had accidentally picked up the previous work from the author and absolutely loved it! I am surprised that it is not as widely known as I would have thought. I have been eagerly awaiting for anything new.

As expected, the author does not disappoint. This is the kind of book where the journey is the reward. Where you know the author is just so much smarter than you and you don't feel bad about it. There is humor and irony the way only Nathan Hill can write it and unexpected stuff that you would not expect in a novel of this genre.

Eagerly awaiting future works from the author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the advanced copy of Wellness! I LOVED The Nix so I eagerly awaited this new title by Nathan Hill and I was not disappointed.
Some of my favorite things were the way he captured the Chicago area from the language to the biting cold - it felt so authentic. The exploration of the power of suggestion for good and bad is compelling and intricately woven. You will not be able to stop thinking about the impact of algorithms on every part of your life and the characters stuck with me long after I finished. Great for fans of The Marriage Act and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for this advance readers copy, in exchange for an honest review. I loved Nathan Hill’s The Nix and was super excited to read this book! Wellness is the story of Jack and Elizabeth, a young couple who gets together in their early 20s in 1990s Chicago. The story vacillates between the present day, 20 years into their marriage where we learn of their current challenges in marriage and parenthood, and back to their separate childhoods, where we learn of the events that shaped them.

This book was really excellent and despite the length (624 pages), it kept me interested throughout. I thoroughly enjoyed Hill’s long, wordy sentences and detailed scene setting, as he has a knack for capturing “normal” daily experiences with a poignant and relatable tone. There are also a lot of thought provoking, philosophical themes throughout the book that makes the reader question how we are shaped into who we become, how we can shape our future, what makes us who we are, and how genuine all of those experiences truly are. I also loved the passages in the book that evaluated the wellness industry and the placebo effect of certain treatments; given the hype around this industry in recent years, it was so interesting to learn some of the behind the scenes of how these treatments/products really “work” or rather, sometimes don’t. I thought it was very clever how the author managed to tie these concepts into the characters story trajectory, as well!

All in all, outside of these very well executed styles and themes that run through the book, it is, at its heart, a character driven story about Elizabeth and Jack. We come to learn the ins and outs of these characters, which makes it easy to become invested in their “ending”, which ultimately was satisfying.

I would definitely recommend this book to literary fiction fans and contemporary fiction fans. This book would also make a great book club pick!

WOW - just finished Wellness and it's hard to really take in all that happened in this book. Wellness is A LOT! So much! This is the story of Elizabeth and Jack, and the story of growing rich and growing up poor. It's the story of figuring out how and why we do what we do, and how we never really get beyond what happened long ago. This story is cerebral and emotional. I'm exhausted.

I loved Elizabeth and Jack. I loved the way the story bounced back and forth between the past and the present. All the psycho-social text was so interesting, and applicable. I did have difficulty with the section on the algorithms and got a little bogged down there to the extent that I started skimming that part. The book is up and down, in and out, and big. I did find the ending satisfying, I think.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read and review Wellness.

Different from most books I read but overall I enjoyed the story Hill has crafted. Great characters and an interesting look at what it means to be well and all the wellness industry has done to people. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Four stars.

Wellness by Nathan Hill is a witty and insightful novel about modern marriage, our health-obsessed culture, and the importance of connection. Hill takes us on a journey with Jack and Elizabeth, who met as college students in the '90s and bonded over their love of art. Fast forward twenty years, and they are married with children, navigating the challenges of parenting and the changing landscape of their relationship.

As they encounter mindfulness support groups, polyamorous suitors, and Facebook wars, Jack and Elizabeth struggle to recognize each other and themselves. They must confront their unfulfilled career ambitions and painful childhood memories to avoid losing the best thing in their lives: each other.

Hill skillfully weaves together the gritty '90s Chicago art scene and the suburbia of detox diets and home-renovation hysteria to reveal profound truths about modern love and intimacy. With a healthy dose of insight, irony, and heart, Wellness is a captivating exploration of the absurdities of modern technology and the importance of human connection.

Overall, Wellness is a humorous, poignant, and thought-provoking novel that will resonate with anyone who has ever struggled to maintain a connection in our increasingly disconnected world. Hill's writing is sharp and insightful, and his characters are flawed, relatable, and endearing. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a fresh and engaging read.