The Nail House

by Gregory Baines

Lindon, an Australian project manager with a failed marriage behind him, is lured to China with the promise of a lucrative salary. His task: to solve the problem of a ‘Nail House’, the home of a stubborn old man who refuses to relocate, even as the bulldozers move in and the skyscrapers grow around him.

But as Lindon negotiates with the old man’s family, he finds sense where there is none. And love where there is war.

Genres: China

160 pages, Paperback

First published September 26, 2019

Reviews

[SueLucie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story started out very well for me. I was immediately intrigued by Lindon’s experiences in China - unfamiliar territory in terms of working practices and culture. It is a steep learning curve for him, trying to understand his colleagues’ sometimes impenetrable behaviour, slowly beginning to suspect people had their own motives and agendas, and struggling to maintain his own impartiality and professionalism. I enjoyed the character of Zhen too, trapped between her own desires and her family’s needs and expectations of her.

Of course, the ‘nail house’ situation has to be resolved one way or another. I was expecting that but, after the gentle thoughtfulness of the first half of the book, what I wasn’t expecting was the frenetic, thriller movie action leading up to the climactic ending. I was rather taken aback and the sudden change of pace didn’t sit well with me, nor was I sure what on earth happened to some of the characters at the end. A patchy experience, but ‘when it was good, it was very, very good…’.

With thanks to Fairlight Books via NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC.

[Mridula Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a failed marriage back in Australia, Lindon finds himself taking a job as a project manager in China. But his dreams of an easy job with steady pay evaporates when he is asked to demolish a certain ‘Nail house’ that sits right in the middle of the construction site. Its owner is a proud man who refuses to budge, and would rather have his beloved house attached every night than move to a more secure and permanent location.

Zhen, the resident of this “Nail House’ wants nothing more than to move out with her fiancee Sun to a modern, air-conditioned flat and live a happy and contented life. When Zhen and Lindon’s paths cross in a bar in a drunken state, they know that they aren’t;t particularly fond of each other. But love has blossomed amidst war and these are just two vulnerable human souls waiting for cupid to strike.

With quotes from ‘The Art of War’ this romance, with an abundance of thrill had me engrossed for the better part. The story is fairly simple, and if you are smarter than me, predictable. But I was invested in the characters, taking this journey with them and silencing loving, hating and judging each one of them. The whole backdrop of ‘The Nail House’ and its associated attacks and problems supports this budding love story so well.

Lindon is a man hopelessly in love with a girl he can’t have and Zhen wants more from life than what Sun has to offer. Lindon’s simplicity and honestly will definitely win hearts. Whereas Zhen is daring and dreams on and has her life planned out for her.

‘The Nail House’ is thrilling, engaging and at times, adorable. It’s a book that can very well be finished in one sitting, so please pick it up because this romance will keep you invested.

[Laura Hoffman Brauman]

This was a bit of an uneven read for me. The Nail House is the story of Lindon, a project manager from Australia. In need of some quick money and because he is looking for escape from his recent divorce, he takes a job with a construction firm in China. His primary objective is to deal with a “nail house”, a term for the homes that hold out and won’t sell to developers, delaying construction projects. The Yi family is unwilling to sell the home, no matter how much money the developers throw at them. I thought the dynamics and experience of a foreigner coming to a new culture and trying to understand a complex situation was really interesting and well done. I also appreciated the viewpoint of Zhen Yi, the daughter in the Yi family, who is both trying to help her family work through the situation with her house and working through concerns about her upcoming marriage. What didn’t work for me so well was the romance element of the story or the shift from a novel that is exploring relationships and culture to a thriller type ending.

[Mamata | _booksandtealife · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is very simple. Lindon who after a failed marriage takes up a project manager job in China thinking it to be fairly simple and steady, but it isn’t as it looks like. He has to move the residents of ‘Nail House’ who have been unwilling to move from the place at any cost. Zhen is the daughter of the residents of the same ‘Nail House’ who wants more than just life. She wants to move away from this Nail House with her Fiancé, stay at a modern place and roam around the world with him. But when Lindon and Zhen’s path cross, there’s an instant something. A connection was made in between the hard times.
The characters are very simple and vulnerable. The story is oddly regular but keeps you engaged. I left it at 15% at my first attempt, but read again and I loved it. Maybe it wasn’t just the correct time at my first attempt. But one should definitely read it. It’s short and worth it!
#thenailhouse #fairlilghtmodern #netgalley

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a random storyline. Disappointed it was filled with so many stereotypical tropes and cliches

[Frida · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd never heard the term Nail House before starting this and naively thought this might have something to do with the house being covered in nails or something like that; it is however a Chinese term for a house which blocks development, go to google images for some fascinating images. The Yi family own one of these houses, one by one their neighbours have given in and sold their properties and land to make way for a new block of apartments. Lindon is an Australian project manager trying to use his recent post in China as an escape from this recent divorce. I feel like the plot was good but really needed to have been dragged out and the characters explored in more depth as there were some good plot twists that took me by surprise but it all felt a little bit rushed. Fairlight Moderns are set around the globe and for this novella is shaped by culture rather than just geography; when we meet her Zhen Yi is preparing for her upcoming marriage and its the attitudes and expectations of her, her fiance and her family which really shape how the story progresses. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with another sneak peak at this collection.

[Rebecca Larsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is great novella about China and the personal price of development and growth. The characters are well developed and the plot offers consistent twists to keep the reader engaged. We need to support local authors and Greg Baines has written a story that both entertains and educates.

[Aaron McQuiston · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was driving to work tonight, at about six at night. Since it is the middle of November, the sky was pitch black but the stars were still sleeping. My work is almost an hour away, on a straight drive down the same 70 mph highway every day, passing the same gas stations, the same pastures, the same corn and bean fields, the same junkyard, the same four McDonald’s, and the same beat down old restaurant that had not been a restaurant in over ten years. Besides some broken down and boarded up windows and a speed trap some time mornings. Tonight there were four pickup trucks, lined up, running with parking lights on, and I could not help but think that this was some sort of construction worker conspiracy, trying to get a land holdout to give up their property so that this can be redeveloped.

This reflects part of the plot of “The Nail House”, by Gregory Baines. The main character, Lindon, is brought into China by a corporation and his only job is to get rid of the tenants of a nail house that is holding up the progress of the corporation's developments. Lindon sees quickly that he is in over his head, but he really does not have much other option but to be successful. The owner of the nail house, the house that he needs to convince the owner to sell, is fighting for his pride more than anything. His daughter, Zhen, wants nothing more than to be done with the entire situation but her thoughts are more geared toward running away with her fiancee, Sun, than to find a solution. When she meets, Lindon, the plot becomes more convoluted with emotions and empathy instead of just fighting. This novella is interesting and light, with a well constructed plot and good characters.

While I was looking for images of the cover of this book, I found pictures of actual nail houses in China, actual people who are doing the things that make this plot more tied to real issues than just an idea that does not exist. Some of the pictures of the nail houses are crazy in their isolation, where the construction company has ripped out everything around the house and there is no way for the occupants to do anything other than survive. The thing that I could have used more in this book is the feeling of displacement by Lindon, spending a little more time focusing on his struggling to understand Chinese culture and making mistakes due to his lack of stability in this situation. Even though this was sort of thin, the entirety of the book was enjoyable. Weeks after reading it, I still see conspiracy and terror in a line of trucks parked in the middle of the night at an old abandoned restaurant. They were probably doing something like selling drugs to one another, but I like to think it was because they were getting ready to go sabotage a work site or a corporate obstruction.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Jaffareadstoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lindon has relocated to China having left a failed marriage behind in Australia. He soon finds that his new role as a project manager for a construction company hits problems right from the start as he discovers, to his cost, that he must first demolish a building which is known as a 'Nail House', a term used when the owner of a property is offered money, so that the house in which they live can be demolished, but they refuse to budge despite a financial incentive.

Zhen Yi's parents live in the eponymous Nail House, and whilst Zhen is hoping to move away to live with her fiancé, she gets caught up in the complications concerning her family home, and so the repercussions linger, with both Lindon and Zhen Yi being drawn together over the space of the story. I was drawn into the complicated process of both of their lives, Lindon seems rather a gloomy individual, he's definitely out of his comfort zone in an unfamiliar environment, and struggles with lots of complicated emotions. Zhen Yi's confusion at her family's involvement only add to her overall sense that her life is spinning out of control.

The novella comes in at just around 152 pages and can be comfortably read in an afternoon, however, whilst it is a quick read, it's definitely not light on content. It's interesting to see how the story plays out with both Lindon and Zhen Yi's alternate chapters giving great insight into what is evolving from their own perspective.

The author writes knowledgeably, and manages to convey both atmosphere and intrigue. whilst at the same time keeping alive the integrity of the culture in which the story is set

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Set in contemporary China, The Nail House charts the adventures of an Australian project manager, Lindon, who takes up a new job on a construction site where he discovers that his task is to enforce the eviction of an elderly man from his home in a so-called “nail house”. I’d never heard this term before and I recommend doing a Google images search because the result is quite amazing. These nail houses belong to residents who refuse to leave them when a new development is planned and soon find themselves completely isolated, often with services cut off, and with construction going on all around them. Lindon is completely out of his depth in this scenario and soon finds that matters spiral out of control. The book started promisingly. I enjoyed the glimpse into business practices in the new China, the business practices of a very different culture and Lindon’s bewilderment at having to navigate a completely alien mind-set is very well portrayed. When he visits the Nail House and meets the daughter of the owner, it’s pretty obvious from the start that there’s going to be a romantic element to the book, and this too I was beginning to enjoy. Then in the second half of the book it all goes haywire, the plot twists multiply and it becomes an unlikely thriller which moves at a frenetic pace and becomes far too melodramatic. A shame, because the book really did have potential. A longer book would have given the opportunity for more character development which would have made the relationship between the two main characters more believable. As it stands, it’s all too rushed and unconvincing and I lost interest. But I’m glad to have discovered Nail Houses…..

[G B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you @fairlight for kindly providing me with an ARC of this book through @netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

It took me a while to get into this book as the atmosphere at the beginning is quite sombre and a little depressing. This eventually contributes to the sinister nature of the plot and reflects the inner state of the two main characters, Lindon and Zhen.
However, the book felt a little unfinished to me. The plot seemed a little easy in places with things just conveniently falling into place. I would have liked the characters to be a little more developed too, we only really get to see them in the present but I feel like their pasts really influence them and that the book could have easily been really moving if it had delved into their pasts a little more. It’s quite a short read, perhaps if it were longer it could have expanded on these points.

I’m giving ‘The Nail House’ 3 stars because I enjoyed parts of it but felt that overall it missed the mark slightly.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fresh read that moves along swiftly to inject a little bit of integrity into the big, insensitive wide world.

It follows the unlikely romance beginning to take root among the crumbling backdrop of an aging apartment block, unkindly referred to as "The Nail House".

In a region steeped in tradition two sides engage on a moral battlefield, with residents steadfastly refusing to leave the building and giving a determined corporation a fierce fight. It’s a hostile affair raising a few question marks (and eyebrows!) over the future being imposed on everyone affected, even those employed to tackle the ‘rebels’.

This is a curiously charming story and in its distinctive way it unmasks what is truly important in life, ultimately proving that the heart cannot be bought and that love is worth much more than any currency.

I enjoyed this one and would consider reading this author again.

(I received a digital copy of this title courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley with my thanks, and it which it was my pleasure to read and review.)

[Susannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was ok overall, I liked it but didn’t love it. The writing was generally good, but it read like two different novels and also like an overly long short story where things have been added to pad it out a bit. It is about Lindon an Australian project manager hired to work on a site in China where there is a ‘nail house’ where a man lives who will not leave which is holding up the development.

I liked the early parts where Lindon has some culture shocks when he moves to China and has a violent encounter with the owner of the nail house. However, the second part was more like a thriller and you have to suspend a lot of disbelief which I struggled to do by the end. Also this has some insta love in it so did not buy this love story which also weakened it for me.

[Amy Drozdowicz · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are many books which make us whine, “this would be so much easier to get through if it was shorter!” as we soldier on through fifty more pages detailing the colour of the wallpaper in eager anticipation of the two pages where stuff happens. The Nail House is a work that sits comfortably on the other side of that spectrum, begging for a thickening agent to bolster its eighty-something pages into something more satisfying.

In China, when a resident refuses to leave their home in order to make way for construction, the offending structure becomes known as a dingzihu, or “nail house.” Also referred to as holdouts, these buildings are left isolated, often partially deconstructed and without electricity and water supplies, while the construction work carries on around them. The concept alone is fascinating, one which could easily soak up hours of research, and is definitely the novella’s major selling point. Our two protagonists, Lindon and Zhen, are on opposing sides of one such dispute. Lindon is, frankly, a loser. Recently divorced, always sloppy drunk, and entirely out of his depth, he has grasped at a large payday in order to flee his deteriorating life in Australia. Zhen Yi, the daughter of the man who refuses to relinquish his home to developers, seems to be an entirely unwilling participant in this conflict. Trapped by both the weight of expectation surrounding her impending marriage and the very literal walls of her parents’ house, Zhen yearns to be free of the responsibility which threatens to bury her at every moment. When Lindon stumbles onto the construction site, it tips her precariously balanced life off its perch.

I was so hoping that this wouldn’t end up being a white-saviour romance story, that it would focus more on familial bonds, but you can’t have everything you want in this life. Zhen and Lindon’s relationship is just one of the narrative threads which would have really benefited from a much longer book insofar as it never quite reaches a feeling of being genuine or natural. In fact, Zhen’s attraction to Lindon is entirely unjustifiable. Here we have a man intent on turfing her aging father out of his home, one who drunkenly vomits on her almost every time he sees her, and one who she openly describes as being quite ungainly and unconfident. Even with the added pressure of her increasingly distant and secretive fiancée, Sun, I cannot see anything which could possibly recommend Lindon to Zhen. Once again, this may have been presented more effectively within the context of a larger work, but the presence of the romance in itself feels like a detriment to me. One relationship which was very well illustrated, even if it goes more than a little off the rails at the end, was that of Zhen and Sun. Baines depicts Zhen’s confusion in such a way that the reader is aware of it before she is, for example:

“his voice disappears mid-sentence and my shoulders go slack. I sink back again to the door. I look forward to being surrounded by his presence, smelling his skin.”

Zhen’s physical reaction of instantly relaxing her shoulders and ceasing to stand to attention is oppositional to her insistence that she is excited to see Sun again, a well-executed hint that Zhen’s relationship is more obligatory than she cares to admit.

Sadly, the authorial nuance ends here. The Nail House, with its overly pragmatic tone, half-baked character arcs, and often questionable sentence structure, feels like a first draft. There were at least two instances I came across where words are unnecessarily repeated in the same utterance:

“I turn, kiss his lips softly but he’s too excited to respond to my lips.”

“they are bleeding and my stockings are glued to the back of my feet with blood.”

I’m not sure if this is an intentional technique on the part of Baines, but it seems more like a mistake in proofreading to me. If it is intentional, it does not impress. Much of the novella flows in a similar way to this, the sentences running on, apparently unchecked by structural or linguistic obligation, until they trip over themselves. For a work that stands at less than one hundred pages, it made my eyes glaze over a lot.

The Nail House gains points for an intriguing concept which led me to conduct further research, the well depicted deterioration of a relationship born out of duty, and a reasonably likeable character in Zhen Yi. Its losses, such as shoddy composition, a poorly executed romance, and a ridiculous ending, are unfortunately greater.

[Alyssa Markmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't normally read books like this, but I loved learning about nail houses and some of what is happening in China in regards to this major issue. The character development was fantastic and I was absolutely captivated by the story, but the end was super rushed! I think another even 20 pages would have been very useful to have time to wrap my head around that ending. Overall a great read!

[Henrietta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful little book. The plot based on a ‘nail house’ was intriguing and it was easy to get attached to the main characters. The author does an amazing job of including the intricacies of Chinese business and day to day customs. Did not see the twist coming! Brilliant.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up. A bit too much madcap at the end but overall I liked the two principal voices

[Linzi (ABookishEndeavor) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really bad pacing, too convenient, unbelievable plot, undeveloped characters. I felt like I missed huge chunks of texts because the story changed so quickly in nonsensical directions.

[Maria · Rating 1 out of 5]

This should've been a quick read but the story is so boring, so corny, so illogical, it sucks. It sucks! The writing is cliched and the romance is quite instantaneous and the characters are shoddily built. Overall, very disappointed.

[alailiander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this was a madcap adventure. I’m not entirely sure I know what I just read. This novella steps through an Orientalism nightmare, a love story, a family drama, a city chase, and a caper all in the space of a hundredsomething pages. It is quite the ride

Lindon was drunk a bit much for me, so I’m not sure the author earned the love story – but the ‘nail house’ plot and the family dynamics in it are great. And the dialogue – the dialogue was great. I would have happily spent more time learning about Lindon’s backstory and with Zhen and her parents; they were all compelling characters.

My thanks to the publisher, author and netgalley for the eBook ARC for review.

[Ojashvi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started nice, but then just all over the place, writing not great. Either a much shorter story with focused plot or a full novel length with better character arcs would have been better. Pretty book cover though.

[Helen Marquis · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘The Nail House’ starts promisingly, with an American developer trying to encourage a Chinese family to leave their ‘nail house” - a term given to the last remaining property that refuses to sell-up and move on in an area for development.
As the high rises creep up around this last bastion of the old ways, the family patriarch digs his heels in and refuses to sell and move on. As tensions rise between the developers and the family, East meets West, Tradition meets Progress and even boy meets girl.
As I said, it starts promisingly, with the conflict forming a strong basis for the story. But then it starts to lose its way somewhat, as they throw in some distracting and unnecessary subplots, including a romance, a kidnapping, some double crossing and a large amount of explosives…
The story arc didn’t really work for me as it veered off into the incredulous. Which is a shame as I really enjoyed the first half of the book.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost five years ago, I bought a house for myself. I painted. I bought appliances and furniture. I planted a back garden. I have plans to makeover some of the rooms in the future. All of this is to make this house even more of a home for myself. There are few places I feel more comfortable and relaxed, to be honest. I’m so proud of myself for working hard and saving enough money to get this place. So I can understand why the patriarch of the Yi family does not want to leave his home, in spite of the offers from a development company that has bought up the properties around the family home and is in the process of building a high-rise apartment complex. In The Nail House, by Gregory Baines, we see the battle for a small plot of land in an unnamed Chinese city from the perspective of Zhen Yi and Lindon, an Australian man who has been hired to negotiate that last land acquisition...

Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.

[books_n_sunshine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven’t explored novellas much as I love delving into the atmosphere and characters in depth. But I really enjoyed reading this book ❤️
The characters keep you invested and interested throughout the book which you can finish in one sitting itself.
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The story revolves around Lindon, with a failed marriage behind him, who comes to China for a new life. The cultural displacement that he faces is beautifully described and which really resonated with me. His interactions with his colleagues, trying to understand the nuances of the culture are beautifully wrought. He then gets entangled in the problem of a ‘Nail House’ - a word I got familiar with after reading the book! It’s an actual term. Look it up guys. He meets the Li family and subsequently Zhen Li, am ambitious girl who wants more from life.
The book is intriguing, it keeps you thoroughly engrossed and there’s action, romance and drama! Do do read this peeps. You won’t regret it.