Genre Fiction
![Michael Farris Smith - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_a_michael_farris_smith.jpg)
Nick
A critically acclaimed novelist pulls Nick Carraway out of the shadows and into the spotlight in this "masterful" look into his life before Gatsby (Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls and Chances Are).
Before Nick Carraway moved to West Egg and into Gatsby's periphery, he was at the center of a very different story-one taking place along the trenches and deep within the tunnels of World War I.
Floundering in the wake of the destruction he witnessed firsthand, Nick delays his return home, hoping to escape the questions he cannot answer about the horrors of war. Instead, he embarks on a transcontinental redemptive journey that takes him from a whirlwind Paris romance-doomed from the very beginning-to the dizzying frenzy of New Orleans, rife with its own flavor of debauchery and violence.
An epic portrait of a truly singular era and a sweeping, romantic story of self-discovery, this rich and imaginative novel breathes new life into a character that many know but few have pondered deeply. Charged with enough alcohol, heartbreak, and profound yearning to paralyze even the heartiest of golden age scribes, Nick reveals the man behind the narrator who has captivated readers for decades.
Before Nick Carraway moved to West Egg and into Gatsby's periphery, he was at the center of a very different story-one taking place along the trenches and deep within the tunnels of World War I.
Floundering in the wake of the destruction he witnessed firsthand, Nick delays his return home, hoping to escape the questions he cannot answer about the horrors of war. Instead, he embarks on a transcontinental redemptive journey that takes him from a whirlwind Paris romance-doomed from the very beginning-to the dizzying frenzy of New Orleans, rife with its own flavor of debauchery and violence.
An epic portrait of a truly singular era and a sweeping, romantic story of self-discovery, this rich and imaginative novel breathes new life into a character that many know but few have pondered deeply. Charged with enough alcohol, heartbreak, and profound yearning to paralyze even the heartiest of golden age scribes, Nick reveals the man behind the narrator who has captivated readers for decades.
Editorial Reviews
Praise for Nick
Entertainment Weekly's Top Reads to Start 2021
Barnes & Noble Bookseller Favorites
O Magazine's Best Books of the New Year
Town & Country 27 Books to Sink Your Teeth Into
Garden & Gun Top-of-2021 Reading List for Southerners
Nick is an exemplary novel. Smith delivers a moving, full-bodied depiction of a man who has been knocked loose from his moorings and is trying to claw back into his own life. ―Ben Fountain, New York Times
"Smith, the author of several Southern Gothic novels, is a talented writer who approaches Fitzgerald's work with reverence and close attention to detail. Anyone who knows The Great Gatsby will hear echoes of that book's luxurious melancholy… in [its] style that gracefully reflects the rhythms of Fitzgerald's prose."―Ron Charles, Washington Post
"A haunting read that will linger long after the last page is read."―Kate Whitman, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"An evocative glimpse into life amidst World War I...with scenes on wartime battlefields and in New Orleans speakeasies creating more captivating backdrops throughout."―Perri Ormont Blumberg, Southern Living
"Michael Farris Smith paints a smart, vivid picture of a shady, messy world that birthed one of literature's best known characters and has written a must-read for Gatsby fans and newcomers alike."―Town & Country
"Its impact is profound, its resonance subterranean…Once you dive into NICK, you'll be held captive. Once you attune yourself to the rhythm of Farris Smith's voice, you'll follow him anywhere.")―Claire Fullerton, NY Journal of Books
"A dark and often gripping story that imagines the narrator of The Great Gatsby in the years before that book began…Smith is a talented writer known mainly for his gritty evocations of violence, struggle, and loss…The new Nick is a man fully realized, with a mind tormented by the war and by a first love that waned too fast to a fingernail moon of bitter memory…A c...
Entertainment Weekly's Top Reads to Start 2021
Barnes & Noble Bookseller Favorites
O Magazine's Best Books of the New Year
Town & Country 27 Books to Sink Your Teeth Into
Garden & Gun Top-of-2021 Reading List for Southerners
Nick is an exemplary novel. Smith delivers a moving, full-bodied depiction of a man who has been knocked loose from his moorings and is trying to claw back into his own life. ―Ben Fountain, New York Times
"Smith, the author of several Southern Gothic novels, is a talented writer who approaches Fitzgerald's work with reverence and close attention to detail. Anyone who knows The Great Gatsby will hear echoes of that book's luxurious melancholy… in [its] style that gracefully reflects the rhythms of Fitzgerald's prose."―Ron Charles, Washington Post
"A haunting read that will linger long after the last page is read."―Kate Whitman, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"An evocative glimpse into life amidst World War I...with scenes on wartime battlefields and in New Orleans speakeasies creating more captivating backdrops throughout."―Perri Ormont Blumberg, Southern Living
"Michael Farris Smith paints a smart, vivid picture of a shady, messy world that birthed one of literature's best known characters and has written a must-read for Gatsby fans and newcomers alike."―Town & Country
"Its impact is profound, its resonance subterranean…Once you dive into NICK, you'll be held captive. Once you attune yourself to the rhythm of Farris Smith's voice, you'll follow him anywhere.")―Claire Fullerton, NY Journal of Books
"A dark and often gripping story that imagines the narrator of The Great Gatsby in the years before that book began…Smith is a talented writer known mainly for his gritty evocations of violence, struggle, and loss…The new Nick is a man fully realized, with a mind tormented by the war and by a first love that waned too fast to a fingernail moon of bitter memory…A c...
Readers Top Reviews
Berrycat
This is the nastiest, most horrible book I have ever read. It started off with a graphic description of life in the trenches in WW1 and that was acceptable if you have a strong stomach, but degenerated into a disgusting, violent account of Nicks life after returning to America. A waste of my time and money.
KaffmattBerrycat
Farris Smith is a talented author. His writing evokes atmosphere and emotion in equal measure. This book is no exception. In particular, the suffering of the men in and after WW1 are clearly portrayed and it’s horrible to read about the consequences of human trauma, caused by others, in war. The writing is an unusual style and will not appeal to some readers but it is this style that adds to the drama of the text. My thoughts are that the book should be read as a life journey of a man named Nick, the Great War and the consequences of suffering. (I read The Great Gatsby at school and cannot remember the storyline let alone the narrator who this is based on) A thought provoking novel and recommended.
V. O'ReganKaffmat
‘NICK’ by Michael Farris Smith is a prequel to ‘The Great Gatsby’ that explores Nick Carraway’s life before he moved to West Egg and entered Gatsby’s sparkling world. It follows Nick as he serves in the Great War, first in the trenches and then in the tunnels as a Listener. Traumatised by his experiences, he delays his return home. He first travels to Paris, where he is swept up in a whirlwind romance, and then on to New Orleans. In his Foreword Farris Smith shares his experiences of reading ‘Gatsby’ over the years and how his perception of the novel changed as he matured. He was particularly inspired by this remark by Nick in the original: ‘I was thirty. Before me stretched the portentous menacing road of a new decade.’. So from the very few details provided about Nick’s background, Michael Farris Smith, himself an expatriate for a time, decided to write Nick’s backstory. He completed ‘NICK’ in 2015, though due to copyright restrictions it was unable to be published until January 2021, when ‘The Great Gatsby’ entered the public domain in the United States. Given this, ‘NICK’ is bound to be the first in a number of novels seeking to reimagine ‘The Great Gatsby’. I thought that it was a good character study that expanded on Fitzgerald’s novel while respecting the original text. Although I am not familiar with Michael Farris Smith, he is clearly an established American author. I felt that he did well in portraying the period settings in France and New Orleans as well as powerfully conveying the stark horrors of trench warfare. The cover of ‘NICK’ is very striking and echoes the iconic cover of the first edition of ‘The Great Gatsby’ by Francis Cugat titled ‘Celestial Eyes’. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.
SiV. O'ReganKaffm
Interesting idea to take the Nick Carraway narrator of the Great Gatsby and give him a background from the Mid West of USA to the first world war horrors in France, a journey that takes him from the impact of his mother's depression growing up in a stifling small town to suffering the traumatic effects of the war, a journey that sees him lose and then search again for his wartime first love, experiences that shape his sympathetic relationship with Gatsby.
