Welcome to Wheels Off, a show about the messy reality of the creative life.

I'm Rhett Miller.

Nathan Hill is a novelist.

As you'll hear during the course of this episode,

he's worked in some other adjacent media as well,

but he's best known as a writer of large literary fiction,

sort of the modern equivalent of the great American novel, though I'm sure he would balk at me saying that.

I imagine he would take some umbrage with my characterizing his work thusly.

But he writes these great American novels.

What can I say? I'm a huge fan of his.

We met in Sanibel Island at a writer's conference shortly after the Knicks had dropped.

After meeting him and being charmed by him and his wife who plays the bassoon in a Philharmonic in, I think, in Florida.

I was, you know, taken by just by the two of them personally and went and found the Knicks and read it

and was glad I hadn't read it before I met him

because I would have been a lot more

nervous talking to somebody who'd written such an incredible novel. He followed it up seven years

later last year with a book called Wellness that once again this great, deep, big, long,

interesting, complex novel. I mean, I, big, long, interesting, complex novel.

I mean, I say complex, and it doesn't quite do justice to the sort of, you know,

the real, it's a very simple, honest, human, authentic feeling book.

It's not like it's some, you know, difficult, thorny

tome. You know, it's just, it's, it's really beautifully written. He's a great writer, really sweet guy.

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