The Essence of Nathan Biddle

Life has not been easy for Kit Biddle, which is evident from the opening pages of The Essence of Nathan Biddle. A year prior, Kit's beloved and special cousin, Nathan Biddle, had been sacrificed by his father in a modern-day rendition of the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac. (For those unfamiliar, the story in the Bible is a test of faith. God directs Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. An angel intervenes at the last moment to save Isaac. Abraham has been proven worthy.) In this novel, however, while Kit's Uncle Nat believes God has directed this action, there is no last minute reprieve, and Nathan's teenage life is snuffed out.

Where the story picks up, Uncle Nat is locked away for his mental illness, and Kit is struggling to make sense of this hole in his life all while confronting the challenges of being a teenager, especially one who is known for having a crazy uncle.

Kit is a teenage philosopher, seeking life’s bigger meaning and purpose but always coming up empty. He explores existentialism, poetry, and various philosophers and is disappointed to discover that none of them hold the answers he is looking for. He is unmoored and comes closest to finding his ideal safe harbor in his relationships with others in the community.

The world of Kit comes to life through his close and complex friendships and relationships, which are painted vividly. His male friendships evolve throughout the course of the novel and involve the best parts of comradery and the worst parts of jealousy and competition over a few of the girls in their class. Kit is enamored with Anna, his first sometime-girlfriend, whom he has placed atop a pedestal of perfection. Anna recognizes Kit’s inability to see her for who she truly is, and that hinders the advance of their romance. Waiting in the wings is Sarah, the younger sister of one of Kit’s friends, who has been secretly enamored with Kit for years. In many ways Sarah is Kit’s salvation, but he is also frustrated that she only sees her own image of him, not who he truly is (in a reverse parallel to his relationship with Anna.

Who is Kit truly? His uncle (who killed his son) is convinced that Kit is actually Nathan based on a mix-up at birth, and the basic facts of the situation support the possibility of this, leading Kit further into confusion over his life. The second half of the book focuses primarily on tracing Kit’s history back to the beginning and following those strands to the present in a weekly series of sessions with a psychologist. It is through this that the reader continues uncovering more of Kit’s past.

I found The Essence of Nathan Biddle to be somewhat reminiscent of The Catcher in the Rye, though a story entirely of its own making. For those who enjoy novels in the Bildungsroman genre, this one absolutely hits the mark as Kit seeks his way in the world against the backdrop of a horrible family tragedy. The characters were multifaceted, and Kit’s individual relationships with both adults (for example, his coach) and his peers helped add more depth to his life. The writing style completed the essence of Kit, using just the right level of precocious language and intellectual references that a philosophizing teenager would use.

"No! Sometimes you just have to say no to other's people's reality."

One of the most important lessons I ever learned is this above quote from the debut novel The Essence of Nathan Biddle by J. William Lewis. This philosophical coming of age story is a remarkable testament to thought provoking storytelling.

Kit Biddle is a very intelligent high school senior with a bright future until all the turmoil of life become too much for him to comprehend. When you are a logical person the illogical essence of life can literally drive you crazy.

Kit's father died when he was four, his uncle is in prison and his cousin and best friend Nathan Biddle is dead. To top it all off his girlfriend just wants to be friends. These tragedies are just the beginning of Kit's journey.

A near fatal car crash forces Kit to stay still so his body can heal and, perhaps, his mind can find peace too. As we learn the details about his father, uncle and cousin we see how family can shape us and often form our very being.

There are so many surprising and detailed reveals about why Kit is at an existential crossroads and why there is a one legged heron on the cover of this book. This is a compelling read and one that not only shocked me at times but brought back many of my own questions about what is the meaning of our lives and why the one thing we all suffer is grief.

With many questions and not always answers this is a book to get immersed in but to also question the characters perceptions. It is not quick or light reading but it will stay with you long after you finish it.

I received a free copy of this book from the publishers via #Netgalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and Greenleaf Book Group for a free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

The Essence of Nathan Biddle has garnered some comparisons to J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, and at first glance it has numerous similarities--Kit Biddle is a teenage boy growing up in the 1950s, struggling with philosophical questions, underachieving in his studies, worrying about girls, and dealing with family issues. But The Essence of Nathan Biddle takes the obvious story of teenage angst and lust and tilts it on its head, so that at points in the novel it is hard to know what is real and what is only taking place in Kit's mind. Kit is also (in my opinion) a more likeable and sympathetic character than the infamous Holden Caulfield. And the history about his family members was interesting and helped me understand his upbringing.

There were a few places where the story goes back and forth in time around Nathan's death and at times I thought it was a bit confusing because there wasn't enough separation between scenes, for example, when Kit goes to bed after a rough Saturday night...and wakes up some time later in the hospital, with no chapter break
or indication of what happened. Later in the book, as Kit recounts things to a psychiatrist, the sequence of events is revealed.

I found debut novelist J. William Lewis' writing to be evocative of small town life for a troubled teenager in the 1950s.

This book has been compared to Catcher in the Rye which I absolutely loved teaching! Protagonist Kit is very much like Holden but much more cerebral as he questions his very existence and has existential questions that had me pondering too. It's one of those books that keep you on the edge of your seat every minute (in a good way) as you struggle to understand Kit and his very odd family. I've always loved coming-of-age books--especially as a retired English teacher, but this one was unsettling (again in a good way) as it's so relevant to society today as Kit must struggle with issues like mental health and "where do I fit in this world?" Read it. NOW!

The Essence of Nathan Biddle is a bildungsroman of sorts, set in the 1950’s Alabama, as Kit narrates his life as a high school senior who is coming to terms with the unspeakable tragedy that in his Uncle Nat’s derangement, credits as God’s idea. With this horrific incident looming over his family, he spirals himself into depression and ends up convalescing after getting involved in a harrowing accident.

This character driven story is brilliantly told through the eyes of a brooding teen trying to find the meaning of his life, understand the grief and loss he has suffered, feel love and acceptance, all the while trying to successfully navigate his remaining high school years when everything seems to be against him.

I received a free electronic ARC on May 10, 2021, of this excellent novel from Netgalley, J. William Lewis, and Greenleaf Book Group. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read The Essence of Nathan Biddle of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. Lewis brings us through this tale with a sense of sorrow and understanding for the lost Kit rather than pity, or condemnation. I am very pleased to recommend this novel to friends and family.

J. William Lewis brings to us the ultimate coming-of-age tale of the 21st century. Kit, a prep-school senior, is painted large, with pressures and angst the children of the 20th century would have rarely even thought of, much less encountered. His only father-figure, his Uncle Nat, is a preacher who committed the ultimate crime, the mercy killing of his damaged offspring. Facing the adult decisions that have necessarily falling his way, Kit is overwhelmed and not focusing on what is possible rather than yearning for the known impossible.

Very intriguing story of teenage angst. Very well written with strong, wry, and witty voice. Appreciated one reviewer’s comparison with Catcher in the Rye, though clearly this novel is a product of its era. Very heady which can also be interpreted as snobbish or privileged. However, despite the intellect and vocabulary of the protagonist, his youth deprives him of context as it has done and will continue to do throughout time.

Favorite Quotes:

Newt is blessed with a mass of unruly blond hair, an engaging smile, and a con man’s gift of schmooze. He has found little difficulty convincing women that he is misunderstood; he has had some difficulty getting them to remain convinced for more than a year, sometimes even less than that.

The “general theory of cranial calibration,” as Lichtman and I formulated it, is that the size of a girl’s brain is inversely proportional to the size of her boobs.

“He thinks he’s a wit,” I said testily. “He’s only half right.”

An exquisite random squib had appeared in the dark of my life, and I was grateful. I can’t remember some things and I’m sure I’m going to forget some more, but I’ll bet I won’t ever forget Cassandra prancing on that log wearing her plain cotton panties and a devilish grin. Maybe the really beautiful things are like that: little glowing sparks in the mundane darkness of everyday existence.

He has become my mother’s “special friend” whose specialness I have unfortunately failed to appreciate.

He all about booze and self-pity. He caught tragedy and now he spreads it like a virus.

Newt says he and Uncle Nat fought a lot, and he stopped shaving and bathing and looked and acted like Bigfoot on a moonshine binge.

She’s pretty, but she’s not bright. Lichtman described her perfectly. He said Dayla is built like an Italian sports car but her engine sputters. If you mention something more complicated than shoe size or the weather, she’ll stare at you like you’ve said something in Swahili.


My Review:

I am conflicted about how to rate this one. I struggled with this book, and valiantly I might add. I had even considered a DNF but there were pros and cons to pushing forward and I’m honestly glad I did, but it was an arduous and challenging read. I found it cleverly amusing and wittily insightful for the most part but I also felt oddly annoyed and aggravated and it took considerable effort to push through the various characters’ cerebral postulating as well as the stratospheric level of vocabulary used. I typically read a book a day, yet this one took me three.

The main character of Kit had an odd childhood and bizarre family who obviously had a surfeit of intelligence but didn’t know what to do with it. Kit was floundering and exasperating. He was also unfocused, lazy, obsessive, uncommitted, aimless, and besotted with a girl who clearly and repeatedly told him she wasn’t interested. His teenaged angst and general malaise had me appreciating the fact I no longer have to work with adolescents. Retirement is sweeeeet!

The premise and storylines were oddly compelling while cast with a quirky collection of characters who, other than the lovely Sarah, were disturbingly repellent and truly ghastly creatures. I reveled in the humor of his descriptions and observations of others, but I was often felt bogged down in the prose. The author either has a treasure trove of unusual words circling his cranium or wrote with a thesaurus in his lap. I just know I am thankful I read on a Kindle with a built-in dictionary. I love words and while being far from mentally deficient I felt as such as I wore the battery down on my beloved device while frequently required to halt my perusal to look up the meanings of words like pluperfect, opacity, and lagniappe. Uncommon words I will most likely have to look up again if I ever run across them a second time.

But my main source of discontent was the ending, there wasn’t one. I am still stamping my little foot in pique; I need a semblance of closure and don’t have it. However, when I looked back at my highlighted and favorite passages, which were significantly pared down in this review, I was awed by the author’s craft and am determined to respect his process.

This is a really complex book about friendship and family. Lewis has a unique style of writing. He begins the book with the assumption that the reader knows events that preceded what he is currently relating, so it is important to pay close attention and also be patient as the past unfurls. Fascinating.

While The Essence of Nathan Biddle was sometimes a bit slow moving and many of the characters were far from likeable, as I finished the book and walked away, I was glad I stuck with it. When all is said and done, this is an important book and one that could open doors of communication with students struggling with mental health issues. I felt that this book is one that could inspire discussions and conversations that students want to talk about but haven't known how to begin. Even the occasional poor behavior of the main protagonist is understandable when looked at from a wide angle perspective, and certainly worth some more discussion. I do recommend this book by J. William Lewis but think it would be most beneficial to students if the class spends time talking about it and considering why people do what they did and if it is in their best interests.