Have you heard of the American dream? The American dream is a dream of immigrants to the US. Many immigrants there believe in the American dream, but, in reality, can it come true?

In this story, the main character, Hance, was born in the Netherlands. When he entered university, he went to London, and met Rachel in England. They got married and had a son, Jack. They also dreamed of the American dream like many other couples. His wife, Rachel, was smart and a famous lawyer, and a mother who loved her son very much. She wanted to open her own law firm and educate their son in the US. So, they decided to go to the US, but this wasn’t so easy. Rachel was always lonely, and Hance didn’t take care of his family. Then, he met an African-American called Chuck Lamkinson. Chuck was an enterprising man and knew about a sport called cricket. When Hance was young, he also played cricket.

After they met, Chuck was thinking about opening a cricket business. To Chuck, a cricket business was his American dream. He wanted to make a big ground to play cricket. Hance was interested in Chuck’s business idea. In the US, football and baseball are more famous than cricket. Cricket was popular in Europe, especially England. Consequently, Hance always went out somewhere with Chuck, so Rachel felt solitude more and more. Finally, Rachel said that she will go back to England with Jack. Hance accepted her decision and they agreed to part from each other. After Rachel came back to England, Hance and Chuck found some people who could play cricket with them.

They met a variety of people including a taxi driver, a stranger who they met in a hotel, and a jewelry businessman. All of these people had different colored skin, and they were all immigrants who dreamed the American dream, but they were all poor and tired of life in America. Chuck proposed that they join his cricket team. Many immigrants agreed to this and played cricket. Hance was also a member of Chuck’s cricket team. Even when they lost their games, they enjoyed playing. In addition, the spectators also belonged to a variety races. After seeing this situation, Hance thought that the American dream could come true when he saw all of the happy faces. Maybe, many immigrants felt solitude because they came from other countries, and they could not easily become a part of America society. But, through this game, they could feel happy without any sense of alienation. However, eventually Hance decided to leave the US and go back to England where his wife and son lived.

In fact, this book was not very funny or interesting. But this book can give us a deep impression. Further, through this book, people can think about the American dream again. Although the US consists of a variety of immigrants, it is a place in which harmony can be difficult to find. Finally, Netherland can be defined in three ways. First of all, Netherland is Hance’s homeland. Second, it is nether-land, which refers to an underworld. The last is that America is like hell, and was messed up by the 9-11 terrorist attacks.