Nathan Coulter was Wendell Berry’s first book, published when he was 27. This is the beginning of his eight novels set in Port William, a fictitious town based on his own Port Royal.

Nathan grows up on a family farm in Port William with his brother Tom, who he usually just calls Brother, and his parents. His father’s parents live next door on the farm that had been passed down through the generations.

Nathan’s mother is sick, so he and his brother are told to stay out of the house in the afternoons so she can rest. They wander all over, getting into various kinds of mischief.

When Nathan’s mother dies, he and Brother go to live with their grandparents. One source said this was so because the father blamed the boys for their mother’s death, but I don’t recall that being the case. One problem with an audiobook is that it’s hard to go back and look up details like this. Another source cited the father’s depression.

Whatever the father’s issues, he was a taciturn man, generally quiet, tending to motivate the boys by taunting them rather than encouraging them. His reason for living was work. He handled everything by working. He was determined to outwork everyone else.

We see events unfold from Nathan’s point of view, though he doesn’t say much. The book mainly describes life on a farm in a small Kentucky community. But the theme seems to be Nathan’s journey to becoming a man. One scene where all the men are working hard to get a tobacco harvest in on time reads with the tension of Ben-Hur’s chariot race as the father challenges Tom, who has never beat him before but is coming closer all the time. The men seem to be in the various stages of manhood: the grandfather lamenting his decline and inability to do what he used to, the father in his prime, the oldest son growing in strength almost to the point of the father.

Unfortunately, Nathan doesn’t have many good examples. His grandfather and father are harsh and distant. His uncle Burley is kind, but has a wild streak.

The version of the book I read ends with the death of Nathan’s grandfather, when Nathan was sixteen, almost like the baton is passing to the next generation. I’ve read that the book originally was longer, telling of Nathan’s growing into adulthood.

I got this audiobook (wonderfully read by Paul Michael) because it’s currently in Audible’s Plus Catalog of free titles for members and because I wanted to read more of Berry. I’ve only read his Jayber Crow until now, which I had mixed emotions about.

I had mixed emotions about this book, too. Berry’s writing is lyrical in places, his characters well-drawn, and with a strong sense of place. None of my relatives were farmers, but many did live in rural settings which Berry’s story reminded me of.

There’s a smattering of bad language. But the most offensive thing in the book is when Tom and Nathan go to a carnival, part of which has a strip-tease act–which, for some reason, boys were allowed into. Berry describes the act in too much detail, and I almost stopped the book there. The only reason I continued was because the act was presented as somewhat sad rather than titillating. If this is a story about becoming a man, unfortunately, men at some point come across this type of thing. Thankfully Nathan felt sorry for the woman and wasn’t attracted by the display. But I think the author could have gotten across his point with much less visual detail.

Also, most of the characters who are religious to any degree are odd.

I got Hannah Coulter at the same time as this book, for the same reason. I was going to review the books together, but I ended up saying more about this book than I planned to. So I’ll wait til next week to talk about Hannah, though I’ll say that I liked her story much, much more. Some of the themes Berry is know for are represented in seed form in Nathan Coulter but come to fruition in Hannah Coulter. Hannah is Berry’s seventh novel. It was written 44 years after Nathan, but its story begins just a few years later.

I started reading Berry because I know so many people who love him. His poem “The Blue Robe” is one of my favorites, along with “They Sit Together on the Porch” and “To Tanya on My Sixtieth Birthday.” I love the way he writes, lyrical and tender in places, with a strong sense of place and relationships. But I disagree with him in some areas. I’m still trying to figure him out.

Are you a Wendell Berry fan? What do you like about him?