‘Wellness’ is a perfect novel for our age, its profound sadness tempered with humor

By Michael Schaub

In an early scene in Wellness, the new novel from Nathan Hill, married couple Jack and Elizabeth are arguing over the plans for the condominium they’re designing — a dream home, one that would provide more space for them and their son, Toby, than their current cramped apartment. Jack wants cabinets in the kitchen, but Elizabeth favors open shelves. Jack demonstrates his objection by opening one of their present cabinets, which precipitates a cascade of Tupperware falling onto the floor.

“If we had open shelves, it wouldn’t look like that,” Elizabeth says. “It would look better. We would be better.”

The last sentence is telling. Jack and Elizabeth are staring down the advent of their middle age, realizing that they’re far from the people they were when they met more than 20 years ago — and they try to find deliverance in upgraded living quarters, life hacks, and new adventures, all hoping it will make them, and their marriage, better. Wellness is a stunning novel about the stories that we tell about our lives and our loves, and how we sustain relationships throughout time — it’s beyond remarkable, both funny and heartbreaking, sometimes on the same page. Check out the full review at NPR.