Nathan Coulter [NATHAN COULTER] [Paperback]

Wendell(Author) Berry (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Counterpoint LLC (May 31, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1582434158
• ISBN-13: 978-1582434155
• ASIN: B001TL0I3I
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,991,644 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful way to conclude American Literature course, June 17, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Remembering (Paperback)

In American Literature courses (of the high school variety) the "American Dream" too often ends up sounding like the "American Nightmare." Jay Gatsby, Willy Loman, Roy Hobbs (The Natural) -- they all come to disastrous ends because they all follow the wrong dream. This year, I ended my 11th grade American Literature course with Wendell Berry's short novel "Remembering." I taught it along with Bill Forsythe's brilliant film comedy "Local Hero." Together, they offer an effective and credible response to the American dream-as-nightmare despair of most serious American literature. "Remembering" is a small, quiet story of Andy Catlett, who, like Dante in "The Divine Comedy" (the model for the story), is experiencing a profound mid-life crisis, triggered by the loss of a hand (a "dis-membering) in a farming accident. Through a series of reminiscences, or re-memberings (of family members and members of his rural community), Andy is reunited with his past and his present life, and recommits himself to his local community, his farm, and his family. He returns East (reversing the westward movement of Americans from the days of Lewis and Clark), literally running his car into his land and disabling it in the process. Berry is a fine writer -- among the best now working in English. He uses words with great care, and sees late 20th century America more clearly than anyone I know. And his is a comic vision -- as Dante's is. He sees a difficult hope for us -- difficult but possible. I highly recommend this novel, and hope that readers use it as a springboard to his other novels, essays, and poems.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An exquisite read, August 21, 2001

By 

"frbs" (Hillsboro, ND United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Remembering (Paperback)

This short novel is the best use of the English language among contemporary authors which I've encountered in a very long time. This story of a farmer and his passions redeemed and his worldview re-oriented is not only a tribute to the best of rural life, but is a testimony to the triumph of the human spirit which seeks ever to soar above the misfortunes and tragedies which we otherwise too often accomodate in life. I'm horrified to discover on this site that it is fast out of print. This is a great loss to story tellers and lovers of stories. This is one of the finest - even if unsung - to be sure.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fascinating novel, December 3, 2009

By 

K. McDonald (Sitka, AK United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Remembering: A Novel (Port William) (Paperback)

This was the first WB novel I have read after reading several collections of his essays. Living in rural Tennessee, in the midst of both huge commercial farms and Amish neighbors, I easily understood the anguish of the main character in this novel.