The Third Brother

by Nick McDonell

The highly anticipated second novel from the author of the internationally best-selling Twelve. Mike is interning in Hong Kong when his editor, a friend of his father's, gives him the assignment, and a mission: find Christopher Dorr, a brilliant journalist gone AWOL. So begins a propulsive journey that will take a young man grasping after his identity headlong through fast nights in Thailand, into the grip of family tragedy, and into the heart of September 11, 2001.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Novels

288 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2005

About the author

Nick McDonell is the author of the novels Twelve, The Third Brother, and An Expensive Education, as well as a book of political theory, The Civilization of Perpetual Movement, and four works of reportage, The End Of Major Combat Operations, Green On Blue, The Widow's Network, and The Bodies In Person.

Reviews

[Lauryn Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t particularly enjoy this book. The story lines seemed to jump around a lot and didn’t ever seem to cohesively link back together.
Nice short chapters tho made it an easy read!

[Laurie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked Twelve (I can't believe they're FINALLY releasing the movie!), but this book felt like a bunch of related short stories that didn't gel into a whole. The trip to Bangkok and finding out about his father's past and his other half-brother somewhere out there in the world, the story of his parents' dysfunction, the house fire and their death and Lyle's psychological disorder, and the narrator's own belated resulting personality disorder, are certainly related, but they don't cohere.

[Jolene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Twelve was well designed and I have to admit that I was reacquainted with McDonell's style and imaginary world. The Third Brother is as crazy as Twelve in the storytelling but the part on 9/11 was well described psychologically and emotionally speaking. For once, you got a glimpse of what it could have been for people at the foot of the towers.

Just like his first novel, McDonell chose to write a tragic ending to his story and I was particularly taken aback by the sound of it.

Overall, the book was good.

[Andyruthb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had higher hopes for this book. An exceptionally fast read – two evenings, maybe 3–4 hours. Short chapters – sometimes only a few lines. Jumped around – present, childhood, etc. Description of witnessing (fictional account) of immediate aftermath of twin towers collapsing on 9/11 was unreal – hard to read. Description of backpackers/prostitutes/drug dealers life in Bangkok was interesting. Felt a lot of things weren’t necessary, dragged on, etc. Entire booked seemed a bit pretentious to me, but still OK.

[Leif Garinto · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book confused me. It seems that the author had several plot lines in mind, didn't know how to resolve them, and decided to just mash them together which made for a very (confusing) conclusion.

[Susan Handley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the tale of a guy called Mike, born into a privileged but dysfunctional family. The story starts while he’s working as an intern in Hong Kong. He travels to Thailand to research a story and look up an employee of his boss, who also happens to be an old friend of his parents. Mike discovers Bangkok is not as laid-back and easy going as he expected and he leaves there a changed person; but then on his return, he discovers nothing else is how he’d left it either.

This is a strangely compelling read. The writing style draws you along so convincingly, you could almost be Mike, seeing events unfold through his eyes. All the same, Mike remains an enigma and although you, the reader, are privy to so many of his thoughts, I ended the book still uncertain as to what he was thinking.

This is a superbly written novel and I thoroughly enjoyed most of it. Sadly, I found the conclusion a little lacklustre and felt the book could have been so much more powerful with a different ending.

[umliegend_nougat · Rating 3 out of 5]

German

[Miquel Maritnez Navarrete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probablemente el mejor libro sobre el 11s que he leído

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

McDonell clearly loves storytelling. By now I have read or listened to most of his oeuvre and think this is someone with great skill. When I listened to this 5-disc set by Tantor Media, however, I thought it diffuse (copyright 2005). Not tight enough to involve one utterly, it almost seems a dry run for McDonell’s far better, later novel, An Expensive Education, published in 2009. The thick stem of both books has it’s germ in Harvard University of Cambridge, Massachusetts. There is much wealth, duplicity, and groping for truth in both, but the story line of …Education is much stronger and outward-looking and more grounded in could-be-facts we might have familiarity with through the newspapers.

The Third Brother, McDonell’s second novel, takes us along with the young male protagonist from New York to Hong Kong to Bangkok as he searches for clues to his family history—clues his family is too busy or too distant to share with him. He shows us the upside and downside to living fast and well and tells us the confusion most of us experience as fledglings from college is pretty much the same for all of us, though some have more of everything to work with: cleverness, money, opportunity, geography.

There is something here for each of us to relate to and hold up in wonder, and McDonell does a remarkable job of showing a young man in a strange land—Thailand—and how quickly he adapts…or not. What I didn’t particularly like was the addition of the character of his brother: I am not quite sure that advanced the story in a successful direction. The ending of the book felt forced, abrupt, and left me vaguely dissatisfied. I didn’t want to spend the time to unravel the obvious parallels and meanings of the title because we didn’t have enough closeness to the man we spent so much time with—it always seemed he held us at arm’s length—much like his family had done to him. Reserve and control can be useful tools in the world. I am not sure reserve makes for a successful novelist. I’m willing to hear someone else’s point of view on this.

[Isaiah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, this book was weird. At first the main character, Mike, a privileged kid, is in Hong Kong working as an intern for a friend of his father. He is asked to go to Thailand with a reporter to gather information about teenage backpacker ( tourist who are only there for the drugs and partying). But, while in Thailand, he becomes a backpacker himself and most of the book tells that story.
Strangely, towards the end of the book, he ends up going back home to New York, where his brother has gone crazy and burnt his parent's house to the ground... along with his parents. This, along with the things he sees in Thailand and the 9/11 terrorist attack have a very strong effect on his life and how he lives on.
The story was very interesting. At first, I didn't like how the story made such a huge shift from Thailand to New York City, but the story just got better. I especially liked the way the author made the characters so descriptive and how the story was told with a mixture of flashback and the normal story-line.
This book is not for kids, I found out the hard way... you've been warned.

[Mike Rogers · Rating 2 out of 5]

"The Third Brother" almost reads like two short stories. The chapters alternate between the present and reminiscences of the past. The main character is Mike, an intern working for a magazine in Hong Kong. He is sent to accompany a writer and do research in Bangkok on Western backpackers who come to the city to get high.

Of course he meets all sorts of crazy characters and the reader learns about his family's past in alternating chapters. Mike's parents are sort of crazy, but have clearly had an impact on who Mike is.

In the final part of the book Mike is back in New York, his parents have been killed in a house fire that may not have been an accident, and his brother Lyle is going a bit crazy. At the same time, 9/11 happens and there is an attempt by the author to bring the whole story to some sort of meaningful conclusion. Unfortunately, McDonell isn't really successful which makes the whole book quite disappointing.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. Nick McDonnell's prose is remarkably clean and concise. Eloquent with simple sentences. His third person narrative, with liberal use of the protagonist's name, Mike (who I think is not the same character as White Mike from his first novel), reminded me of a first person referring to himself in the third person, if that makes sense. I liked that Mike seemed to experience events viscerally, without much philosophizing or agonizing. Then near the end of the book, McDonnell does a sudden switch to a direct first-person and then it was a bit shocking to have Mike's philosophizing actually revealed. The third-person account was better.

[Cheryl Gatling]

This is a book that it is very hard to write about without using spoilers. What it begins to be about is what happens to Mike in Thailand, when he goes there as a college intern in journalism. These "travelogue" portions are interspersed with Mike's memories of growing up in his somewhat-dysfunctional family. But what the book is really about is that Mike suffers a series of catastrophic losses. What happens in Thailand begins him on a road of emotional trauma that gets steadily worse and worse. He doesn't cope well. He doesn't let anyone help him. But I can't talk about any of that without giving away the whole entire plot. I can say, however, that this is one real downer of a story.

[Daren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tried this one for a new Author. Was given to me as a gift. I didn't get sucked into the counter-culture story. I know the author is young, and thought the writing needed to mature a bit. It just felt scattered to me.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the first half; completely bemused by the second half.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as Twelve - seemed to deal more with shocking the senses (drugs, sex, etc.) than with telling a truly great story but I like this author's style.

[Tryno · Rating 3 out of 5]

A ver si es cierto que muy bueno el chavito fresa del East Side de Manhattan...

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

wooo...evocative but grim

[Daniel Smallwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Sick! But in a good way. I want something new everytime & Nick McDonell doesn't disappoint. I hope he never stops writing.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one. It surprised me that I liked it. A well written book with good story telling. A page turner

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, not as good as his first book, but definitely worth the read. Talented young author!

[Juliebd · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found that I really didn't care about anyone, but I guess the protagonist didn't either. I found much of it beyond anything I had interest in.

[Andrew Price · Rating 1 out of 5]

Loved 12 but this was rubbish.