Nathan Coulter

NATHAN COULTER is the first in author Wendell Berry's sensitive and beautifully written series about life in a small, fictional rural town along the Kentucky River called Port William. These are NOT novels focused on action. Instead, they explore our humanity, our relationships, and a slower, gentler way of living.

This is a difficult book to describe. It's partly the multi-year story of Nathan's coming of age. It's partly a story about grief. But it also touches on so many universal themes. Like relationships among men; father and son, adult with peers, between brothers, and among teenage boys. And a bit about the supportive and peacemaking role so often provided by women.

NATHAN COULTER is a very male-centric novel with most main show more characters occupied with the seasonal and exhausting hard work required on a family farm (passed down through generations) and free time spent fishing, hunting, and drinking. Competition is a recurring element among the male characters.

Author, essayist, and poet Wendell Berry's writing is both lyrical and celebratory of the natural world. I listened to the audiobook version (skillfully narrated by Peter Michael) and the language is lovely and sets a very definite mood. It recalls a simpler time in America that will no doubt feel enviable to many readers.

While I haven't read Berry's entire Port William series, of those books I have read, NATHAN COULTER seemed slower. Part of my reaction may also be my own inability to identify with all the very male activities and cruel pranks that are described. Nevertheless, I certainly think every person should be exposed to this author's brilliant style of writing and the rich way he has captured one aspect of this country's diverse culture. show less

When young Nathan loses his grandfather, Berry guides readers through the process of Nathan's grief, endearing the reader to the simple humanity through which Nathan views the world. Echoing Berry's own strongly held beliefs, Nathan tells us that his grandfather's life "couldn't be divided from the days he'd spent at work in his fields." Berry has long been compared to Faulkner for his ability to erect entire communities in his fiction, and his heart and soul have always lived in Port William, Kentucky. In this eloquent novel about duty, community, and a sweeping love of the land, Berry gives readers a classic book that takes them to that storied place.

An American pastoral novel that is misleadingly serene, in that a great deal happens that could be considered action or tragedy, but which the characters and the novel both take in stride as the normal course of life and nature.

The novel moseys along, slowly meandering to the point where Berry's philosophies about one's relationships with one's ancestors and the shared relationship with the land hits home.

From page one, the novel brought back memories of my own experiences with my father, grandfather, and (briefly) as a hired farm hand. Even though it's a novel about rural Kentucky in the early 20th century, it contains themes that are shared throughout humanity.

Nathan Coulter was Berry's first novel, and his inexperience is evident. Most glaring to me was the lack of resolution--the book ends two short paragraphs after a major crisis. It felt too abrupt. Still a good first novel, but Hannah Coulter is a better story with many of the same characters.

I’ve been wanting to read more Berry and this was a good place to start. It’s short, but the coming-of-age theme and tone reminded me a lot of Cold Sassy Tree. Berry does an incredible job capturing and conveying a sense of place in his works. The quiet way of life that Nathan reflects on enchanting, but there are still traumas to face in their small town. I loved Hannah Coulter more, but this one certainly makes me want to read another of his books.

Nathan Coulter is the first of Wendell Berry’s Port William stories, all set in an early 20th-century fictional Kentucky farming community. Nathan is a young boy who, along with his older brother, Tom, helps tend the family farm. His extended family includes his grandparents and the “black sheep” Uncle Burley, who has never been interested in working the land. This short novel follows Nathan and his family over the course of about a year, as they face some success but also hardships and loss. While it’s the story of ordinary people, the book succeeded in developing a sense of place and community that left me wanting more.

This book started the series of stories about the people of Port William. Of all those that I've read, I've found this one to be the weakest. It was all despair and no hope. I enjoyed the book anyway since Berry can't help but write well. I do wish though that the story had some element of hope, which is the power of the later books in this series. Or perhaps, the later books are that much better as a result of the despair in the beginning?

Listened to audio book