The Nix

The Nix by Nathan Hill

This book tells the story of a son whose mother abandoned him when he was just 11 years old. Fast forward

two decades, and his mother is thrust back in his life when she commits an act of political protest that gets her in hot water with the law. This sets the son on a journey to understand her mother's past, which includes a brief but intense period living in Chicago in 1968 in the days leading up to and including the famous protests at the Democratic National Convention.

I really liked this book. The author did a great job of bringing the characters to life, of giving the reader insight into their interior lives and making you sympathetic to their flaws. In addition, I liked how it jumped back and forth in time, filling the reader in with enough details to deepen their understanding of the events in question while leaving enough mystery to make them want to read on. Though this was a big book, at more than 500 pages, I flew through it. Highly recommended.