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Wellness

a thought-provoking story of a modern marriage, from the bestselling author of The Nix

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Wellness

By: Nathan Hill
Narrated by: Ari Fliakos
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About this listen

'American storytelling at its era-spanning best . . . An immersive, multi-layered portrait of a marriage, Nathan Hill’s follow-up to The Nix is a work of quiet genius' – The Observer

An Oprah's Book Club Pick.

Moving from the gritty 90s Chicago art scene to a suburbia of detox diets and home renovation hysteria, Wellness is a thought-provoking exploration of intimacy, identity, and the absurdities of our tech-obsessed health culture.

When Jack and Elizabeth meet as college students in the 90s, the two quickly join forces and hold on tight, each eager to claim a place in Chicago’s thriving underground art scene with an appreciative kindred spirit.

Fast-forward twenty years to married life, and the no-longer-youthful dreamers are forced to face their demons, from unfulfilled career ambitions to painful childhood memories of their own dysfunctional families. In the process, Jack and Elizabeth must undertake separate, personal excavations, or risk losing the best thing in their lives: each other.

From the author of The Nix, Wellness mines the absurdities of modern technology and modern love to reveal profound, startling truths about intimacy and connection, reimagining the love story with healthy doses of insight, irony and heart.

'The incredible scope of this dazzlingly detailed state-of-the-nation satire almost defies description . . . Brilliant doesn’t begin to describe it, but I’ll say it anyway' – Daily Mail

 City Life Family Life Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Urban Heartfelt

Critic Reviews

American storytelling at its era-spanning best . . . An immersive, multi-layered portrait of a marriage, Nathan Hill’s follow-up to The Nix is a work of quiet genius . . . tackling a few big questions. What is truth? What is love? And therefore, inevitably, what is true love?
The incredible scope of this dazzlingly detailed state-of-the-nation satire almost defies description . . . Brilliant doesn’t begin to describe it, but I’ll say it anyway.
Future historians, read this book . . . a crackling, witty chronicle of the world of the urban creative classes from the 1990s to now . . . I doubt I'll enjoy many books this year as much as Wellness.
A reader emerges from Hill’s world of Wellness with a keener eye for the tragicomic maladies of marriage, and a greater ear for the strangely affecting rhythms and algorithms of 21st-century life.
A bewitching, sophisticated book
Wellness is not some naive, crunchy-granola midlife-crisis novel . . . [it] is a clear-eyed look at the difficulty to live honestly in a world where authenticity may be the most challenged idea of all.
A clever satire on America's self-deluding 'wellness' class . . . The variety and ingenuity of Hill's satirical prods – from real-estate development to Facebook algorithms – is impressive.
This soulful satire takes aim at everything from gentrification to 'life hacks'. But it's also ambitious – and some nifty plotting by Hill reveals just how entangled contentment is with the stories we tell about ourselves.
This brilliant novel will leave you thinking about the truth of your own life and the stories we tell ourselves and each other. (Oprah Winfrey)
A compassionate satire of messy America
Hill's storytelling abilities are impressive . . . His novels vividly capture lonely Midwestern childhoods and real yearning for connection and understanding.
Wellness is a perfect novel for our age . . . It's beyond remarkable, both funny and heartbreaking, sometimes on the same page.
Hill is witty at exposing the ways intelligence and social background don’t necessarily make us more immune to manipulation.
I read Hill’s novel with excitement and close to a sense of disbelief that there is still a writer out there who is intrigued by amplitude and by what fiction can do if pushed far enough. (Daphne Merkin, The Atlantic)
Wellness brilliantly blends ideas about wellness culture, modern parenting, Internet algorithms, gentrification, and most importantly, love.
This new novel from the author of 2016 bestseller The Nix certainly packs a lot into its pages – parenting trends, the wellness industry, the meaning of art, conspiracy theories – all explored through scenes from the 20-year marriage between Elizabeth and Jack, as the pair grow together and apart again. Meaty but very readable
All stars
Most relevant
Laugh out loud moments with tenderness and a lot of cutting insights. An engaging take on relationships and how they shape us over life.

Clever, funny and insightful

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Brilliant writing and narration . I don’t think an audible production gets better than this to be honest. This story is a true depiction of the modern human condition with a sense of humour

One of the best books I have ever read, narrated superbly . Now bereft to have finished all books by this author

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This is a fabulous query of people; our nuttiness, our relationships and our pursuits, and Ari’s narration thoroughly brings it to life.

A delve into people

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An expansive and engaging story! Brilliant study of relationships, people and belief. Told so well between different points of view

Engaging and vivid story.

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This is essentially a love story unpacking 20 years of marriage between two very likable Gen X'ers. Afloat on the tumultuous sea of self-improvement and bio-hack advice, a newlywed couple embarks on a journey to discover their marital destiny. It is poignant, funny and nails the last 4 decades of psycho/social and health concerns. Jack Baker, a talented photographer from an unhappy upbringing in the prairies of Kansas commences his career in Chicago in the nineties. He encounters the object of his affection, Elizabeth Augustine, student at DePaul University and a super high achiever, hailing from old money.

A blissful period ensues of carefree and heady times with friends. Elizabeth ultimately lands a job in a psychological research firm attached to the University observing the placebo affect on behavioural outcomes via a company called Wellness. The couple go on to have a child. The title of the book examines Wellness in all it's complexity through the lens of these two earnest 'mindful' partners. It is both a poignant and hilarious journey. Nathan Hill's comic evaluation of everything from open marriage, digital fit-bits, gut flora, diets fads, progressive parenting, data dependence, social media and cult behavior is well observed but never unkind.

It is a book of our times and simultaneously tells a heartfelt story of how love leans in, overcomes, and ultimately of what gets lost along the way. It is long, but it has to be to be a convincing portrait of two lives. It is a clever and highly entertaining. I did love this one.

Wonderful - a book for our times

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