The Essence of Nathan Biddle is a tome written for those who prefer profundity in their fiction. As I read this narrative, I realized it was one of the few books I have perused that demands a precis as well as a lexicon to fully comprehend what the protagonist was discoursing.

It was this kind of language that occurred throughout the book, and frankly, it slowed down the pace. This is not a good way to start a novel about a young man finding his way in Alabama, circa mid-20th century.

This book is about a young man, Kit, nearing his high school graduation. He has a loving mother but lost his father in a car accident, and he has a complicated passion for a young woman who is bewitching and nearly ethereal. Kit is a gifted runner, a philosopher, and he is unsure of which path to take in his life.

Throughout the book, there are references or implications relating to Greek tragedy, and Don Quixote, to name but a few dreamers and philosophers. A critical point to the story comes when Kit crashes a golf course truck and severely fractures his leg. With the help of a psychiatrist, and through his own deductive and inductive powers, Kit makes his way along the road so many of us travel toward becoming who we are.

The author, J. William Lewis, is an attorney by trade. This is most certainly not an indictment of attorneys, but instead to point out the places within the book that make use of language or words that lessen the flow of the story. At one point, a local deputy refers to an alleged criminal as a "miscreant." With all due respect to law enforcement, I have never read a book in which a local deputy, or anyone connected to criminal justice, refers to a suspect of a crime as a miscreant.

A number of the characters within this book use archaic (or majestic) verbiage and it distracts from a good story. That is not an indictment of this book, but instead a caution to those who wish to read The Essence of Nathan Biddle.