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American Fraternity Man

Nathan Holic (Goodreads Author)

4.30 · Rating details · 50 ratings · 17 reviews

Charles Washington, a college grad brimming with energy and idealism and promise, is swept up in the Compassion Boom. At the height of the financial meltdown, he spurns the prescribed job market to take a job with a not-for-profit, sacrificing salary for the selfless mission of his first post-college employer. Charles is out to save the world - the world of fraternities! C Charles Washington, a college grad brimming with energy and idealism and promise, is swept up in the Compassion Boom. At the height of the financial meltdown, he spurns the prescribed job market to take a job with a not-for-profit, sacrificing salary for the selfless mission of his first post-college employer. Charles is out to save the world - the world of fraternities! Charles is an Educational Consultant with the Nu Kappa Epsilon National Fraternity Headquarters. He's making no money, but he's on a noble mission: he will crisscross the country to clean up the corroded culture of fraternity life, driving from college to college, fraternity house to fraternity house, conducting leadership development workshops and serving as a 24/7 role model for his NKE brothers. Charles will whisk away the alcoholism and drug abuse, and put an end to the hazing. He will help transform 21st-century fraternity life into a leadership experience just as enriching as the Boy Scouts. The only problem: Charles isn't nearly the clean-cut role model he wants to believe he is, and he's about to learn that he is ill-prepared for the true demands of leadership. Very quickly, he finds himself caught in a whirlwind of alcohol, parties, hazing, and sex, a series of events and decisions which will test his new values and threaten his entire future. "American Fraternity Man" is an intimate portrait of a young man struggling to become the right kind of professional, while coming to terms with the harsh financial and political realities behind the ambitious mission statements and corporate philosophies. Set within a broad panoramic of the national fraternity world, American Fraternity Man offers a humanizing look at the individuals who live and breathe Greek Life, while also giving an unrivaled glimpse at the power, potential, and absurdity of the National Fraternity/Sorority business. Through both text and illustrations, Nathan Holic offers the very human story of one young man's longing for morality and purpose in a world he simply has not been prepared to understand. ...more

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Paperback, 436 pages

Published June 3rd 2013 by Beating Windward Press, LLC (first published May 27th 2013)

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May 30, 2013 Nathan Holic rated it it was amazing · (Review from the author)

I feel weird about writing a review for my own book, but what the hell? Why not?

Obviously I can't give the book a critical review, so I won't pretend to do that. I can only say that I worked on the manuscript for almost seven years, constantly revising and re-shaping and refining (to the point where I'd nearly driven myself crazy), and by the time I did my final read-through of the uncorrected proofs, I honestly enjoyed reading every page. That might sound disingenuous: every author should promo I feel weird about writing a review for my own book, but what the hell? Why not?

Obviously I can't give the book a critical review, so I won't pretend to do that. I can only say that I worked on the manuscript for almost seven years, constantly revising and re-shaping and refining (to the point where I'd nearly driven myself crazy), and by the time I did my final read-through of the uncorrected proofs, I honestly enjoyed reading every page. That might sound disingenuous: every author should promote his/her work, right? Sure. But I set out to write the sort of book that I would enjoy, and so it meant everything to me that I was able to do this.

To see if our reading tastes align, just check my shelves. Maybe this book will be right up your alley. Or maybe you hated The Bonfire of the Vanities, and The Corrections, and Catch-22, and Middlesex, and House of Leaves, and The Secret History, and Prep, and Angry Black White Boy...in which case this might not be your kind of book.

I suppose I can just take the rest of this space to tell you who might enjoy this book:

I wrote this book for college kids who are immersed in their fraternity/ sorority worlds, but who have never actually seen a book or a movie that dealt with the world in an honest way. I wrote it for student-leaders who put every ounce of their mental energy into the organizations they serve, but who rarely hear anyone talk about the real internal struggles that leaders face when they try to do "the right thing" on a college campus. I wrote it for parents, too, and for Greek Advisors and campus administrators, and for fraternity alumni, and for staff members at National HQs: I wrote it for the people who have moved on from the undergraduate college world, and who have sincere and positive motives, but who might need to see their post-grad world from a different perspective.

And I wrote this book for an entire generation of twenty and thirty-somethings, too, the ones who haven't picked up a "literary" novel in quite awhile. Maybe, once upon a time, they enjoyed reading, but then they arrived at a series of particularly difficult or obscure books in late high school (you know the ones I'm talking about), and literature seemed as if it no longer spoke to them. Or maybe they still loved books, but then they went to college and studied business, or engineering, or medicine, or law, and their every moment became consumed with their specific industry or discipline, and now they say to themselves, "Geez, I can't remember the last time I read a novel."

We all have a choice of how to spend our leisure time, and I hate it when I'm made to feel guilty because I'm not spending it in the way that someone else thinks I should. I wrote this book for those smart people who are ready to re-engage with literature, but who needed a book about *their* world (or their former world) in order to feel comfortable entering the waters once again.

Hopefully you enjoy. If not, wait another seven years, and Book#2 will be ready.

...more

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Jun 02, 2013 Matt Peters rated it it was amazing

Incredibly engaging and funny read. It definitely didn't feel like 400 pages.

I was hesitant to read this book because it was about Fraternities, but the frat world was just the setting for a very character driven story. Instead of putting me off, the frat setting offered me a nice glimpse into a world I never got to experience and was not familiar with.

Ultimately, this is a great story about the disillusionment of moving from the comforting college world of idealism to the harsh business world ...more

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Jun 12, 2013 Markness rated it really liked it

Both a quarter-life crisis Bildungsroman for the Gen-X/Millennial threshold and a picaresque romp through the strata of fraternity life across the country, Nathan Holic's American Fraternity Man paints a blackly comic (but not heartless) portrait of a young man and the (often fiery) trajectory he describes in his attempt to escape the no-man's land between his best intentions and his worst impulses, between his self righteousness and his self interest.

Newly-minted college graduate and fraternit Both a quarter-life crisis Bildungsroman for the Gen-X/Millennial threshold and a picaresque romp through the strata of fraternity life across the country, Nathan Holic's American Fraternity Man paints a blackly comic (but not heartless) portrait of a young man and the (often fiery) trajectory he describes in his attempt to escape the no-man's land between his best intentions and his worst impulses, between his self righteousness and his self interest.

Newly-minted college graduate and fraternity all-star Charles Washington--to the chagrin of his taciturn father and the blithely unconcerned support of his younger girlfriend, who is still entrenched in the college experience--takes a post-grad job as a national consultant for his fraternity, traveling from campus to campus with the ostensible purpose of inspiring the undergraduate brothers to be more! and do more!, but in reality functioning as little more than a risk management assessor for the deep pockets of the national fraternity organization and the various wealthy alumni connected to them. In short, Charles is forced into the role of the "Fun Nazi"--a phrase that appears with musical regularity throughout the book and which might have been an apropos alternate title. Charles is confronted at every turn by evidence of hazing, alcohol abuse, drug use, and the "drinking club" mentality, which he strives to confront and change at the chapters he visits but by which he is equally mesmerized, looking back on his own undergraduate shenanigans with a nostalgia that is as powerful as it is unsettling to him. He is a protagonist who, like many memorable and self immolating heroes, wants to have his cake and eat it, too, and in trying to do so he tumbles headlong into a series of increasingly awkward adventures and bad decisions that...well, you'll see, just read the book.

Don't be fooled or put off by the fraternity subject matter. Holic presents the existence of fraternity in American universities with an eye towards reality, not glorification. The multifaceted view of fraternity life is one of the book's big draws. But its chief draw is in its storytelling. Holic's treatment of his characters, even his minor ones, stands out, as does his prose--a mix of vivid images, social commentary, and comic non sequiturs that bring to mind Tom Wolfe and Jonathan Franzen. And though the book does lose some of its steam in act three amid a series of convenient confrontations and tidy full-circle narrative impulses, they hardly detract from the book's overall impact (and even these sequences are written, on a line-by-line level, with the same verve as the rest of the book). The plotting is generally quite deft; the thread of parental distrust that drives the book's early pages ensnares our hero Charles, expanding and knotting and drawing tighter and tighter throughout the first and second act. Once things really start rolling, the reading experience is breathless. It's a comic pageturner, but not in a "ha ha" sense. You feel bad for this young man, you root for him, you want to knock some sense into him, but above all, you want to know what happens to him, what he's going to DO. And at the end of the day, that is the only true and inviolable diagnostic of a great story. Recommended.
...more

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May 30, 2013 Burrow Press rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-set-in-florida

I couldn't care less about fraternities. I was never in one, I never bought into it, and I remain more or less ambivalent. I can see why, because of its content, this book might be overlooked by certain fans of indie lit or literary fiction in general. Frats? Meh...

But this novel does exactly what good literary fiction is supposed to do: presents an honest and nuanced portrayal of Greek Life. The best part is that it isn't simply a polemic about the cognitive dissonance between the vapid Greek ...more

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Jul 16, 2013 Alan Lacerra rated it it was amazing

Sure, with its over four hundred pages, American Fraternity Man may seem like it would be a long read, but honestly, I finished one third of the book in a day.

The only other books that have kept me turning the pages so frequently are the much beloved Harry Potters. In fact, now that I think about it, there are a good deal of similarities between Nate Holic’s novel and JK Rowling’s series. Both are coming-of-age stories (Holic’s main character Charles Washington, a recent college graduate, is old ...more

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Aug 10, 2013 John Fleming rated it it was amazing

Nathan Holic’s book gives a rare and valuable glimpse into the fraternity world, and it’s probably not the one you know. Charles Washington is out to change the world, one fraternity at a time. The problem is, he’s internalized a lot of nonsense about what it means to be an adult and a professional. He tries desperately hard to make himself into someone he’s not. He tries to be calculating, but he’s not very good at it. He tries to be straightlaced and uptight and a paragon of the kind of soundb ...more

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Aug 07, 2013 Rosa Lee Mullins rated it it was amazing

Every sentence counts in American Fraternity Man. This novel has rich, vivid imagery and endearing characters that are flawed and sympathetic. Dive into this page turner and follow Charles, a recent grad transitioning to the real world and searching for clarity and meaning in his life. The novel provides a sensible view of fraternity life and is engaging, insightful, and well-paced. Definitely an entertaining read for even the most inexperienced when it comes to fraternity life.

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Jul 14, 2013 Sarah Harris rated it it was amazing

I found this novel to be very compelling and Charles Washington to be an engaging guide to a world I knew little about. While this book is a bit on the long side, the plot and characters really pulled me in—I got so wrapped up in the story that I read the last hundred pages all in one sitting! The writing was poignant and the details so vivid that I felt I was right there in Charles’ world. Highly recommend!

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Aug 28, 2013 Audrey Graser rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2013

Title: American Fraternity Man
Author: Nathan Holic
Genre: Adult Contemporary
Publisher: Beating Windward Press LLC
Length: 436 pages
Original Publishing Date: June 3rd, 2012
Series: Standalone
Where I got it: NetGalley
Links: Goodreads Amazon Author's Website

Synopsis from Goodreads:
"Charles Washington, a college grad brimming with energy and idealism and promise, is swept up in the Compassion Boom. At the height of the financial meltdown, he spurns the prescribed job market to take a job with a not-fo ...more

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Jan 28, 2014 Sophia rated it really liked it

[This review was first posted on Quite Spectacular]

Charles Washington, former president of his fraternity and graduate of Edison University, is on a mission. A mission to save fraternities across the land and restore them to their original purpose of safe spaces promoting brotherhood and good citizenship. However, everything from his vision to his relationships to his very moral fibre is challenged and tested as he travels the country, meeting his brothers - young and old -, and uncovers what is [This review was first posted on Quite Spectacular]

Charles Washington, former president of his fraternity and graduate of Edison University, is on a mission. A mission to save fraternities across the land and restore them to their original purpose of safe spaces promoting brotherhood and good citizenship. However, everything from his vision to his relationships to his very moral fibre is challenged and tested as he travels the country, meeting his brothers - young and old -, and uncovers what is beneath the surface of his beloved fraternity and the Greek system as a whole.

I didn't really know what to expect when I purchased this book (at a bargain price I might add). I can't even remember how I came across it. Perhaps on a Goodreads list? Anyway, my only encounter with Greek life has been ABC's short lived series Greek. American Fraternity Man is quite different to the TV show, which is very light hearted. There are some complex themes and a depth to this book that I was pleasantly surprised by.

The story is mainly about that first year after college - the transition to adulthood. At one point, Charles quips “Finally, my life was feeling like an Outlook calendar, not a Facebook page.” (pg 83). We’ve all been there, haven’t we? That point where you suddenly feel like you’ve grown up. Then again, this 'transition' to adulthood rarely takes place within the first year of graduating because it takes more than a year to figure out who you are and where you want to go. I suppose it could be argued we are making this 'transition' constantly but...this isn't the place for that kind of discussion.

There's a great deal of thought provoking sociological discourse on the 'Millennial Generation' throughout the book. Most prominently is the thought that Millennials are pushing a compassion boom meaning they (we?!) are eschewing high paying, (formerly) high status positions in favour of poorly paid work for non-profits or organisations seeming to want to make the world a better place. Some of the theories suggest this is because Millennials have nothing to prove, per se. There was also an interesting discussion between Charles and a professor of the ‘Millennial Generation’. The professor claimed Millennials want to join every society, team, and fraternity/sorority because they “crave programming” (pg 343) thanks to helicopter parenting. In the end, for me, the debate boiled down to the Millennial Generation being, as the professor says, “A Hero Generation, capable of changing the world” (pg 338) or a directionless, lost generation run out of steam. Burnt out by 25. Unsure of what work is because a 9-5 pushing papers just isn’t fulfilling, is it? And everything else up until that point, every team, club, exam, whatever, has been for a reason - to get into university, to boost your overall grade, to put on your CV for the job...the job that turns out to not seem to have a purpose in the grand scheme of things? Or your supposed grand scheme of things. I don’t know - I’m not a scholar in this subject but that’s how it feels to me and this is my generation so...

Anyway, back to the book itself and the characters within: Charles was not your typical, flawless hero. He tried too hard and made some dodgy decisions but ultimately he felt like he was doing something he believed in and managed to dredge up enthusiasm from goodness knows where for, what seemed like, a pretty hopeless cause. I really liked Jenn because despite being physically absent throughout most of the story, she was always there in my mind. Perhaps because I’m a female reader and identified with her to a certain extent? As for Charles’s motivational speaker manager, well we could see his true nature from the very beginning, which made it even more tense when Charles figured out the long game. There were many, many supporting characters - after all, Charles had dozens of fraternities to visit - so it was clever to keep them all in check and make sure they were distinct but also keep the same types cropping up in each fraternity - the one’s like Charles, the really fratty types, the always second-in-command types, and so on.

As I said before, I didn’t know anything about Greek Life other than what I’d seen on Greek, so I cannot say whether or not this was an accurate, authentic depiction. However, the fact that I was a newbie didn’t mean the story was inaccessible to me, which is definitely a positive. Considering everything mentioned about the Millennials, it would be interesting to know if Greek membership is up or down.

There was some great stuff on social media and how it just seemed to explode. One minute people were tapping away on Livejournal and ranking friends on Myspace (which I forgot about, how mean was that?!) then BOOM Facebook arrives for the masses and Twitter and everything else. Remember how everyone had a Blackberry or a normal phone and then you blinked and suddenly everyone, including your grandma, had an iPhone? Nowadays, we all (supposedly) know what we can and cannot put out there on social media if we want to maintain our integrity but this story points out how difficult it must have been for the graduates during this time. They didn’t know their employers were onto this whole Facebook thing, so a lot of what should have been private probably ended up being seen by people who had no business looking. Charles had a bit of a love/hate relationship with Facebook. How does he keep up with his friends - and his long distant girlfriend - but also remain professional and set apart from the fraternity members he’s lecturing? If the President-to-be has Facebook, why can’t he? In this respect, the book reminded me a bit of Attachments by Rainbow Rowell, where the characters are dealing with the Millennium Bug and emailing at work.

Overall, I found this story really intriguing (can you tell by how long this review is?!). It was kind of on the long side - maybe some of the visits could’ve been cut out but then I suppose Charles’s unravelling wouldn’t be as believable. A minor complaint either way. This is definitely a read for anyone interested in Greek Life or the Millennial Generation or if you just like a good college based novel. We keep saying we need more of them, don’t we? ...more

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Nov 08, 2013 Joséphine (Word Revel) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-contemporary, greek-life, format-ebooks, text-fiction, illustrated, morality, netgalley, realistic-fiction, self-discovery, travel

Note: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Now that Charles has graduated, it is time to face the real world. He is all fresh-faced and eager, all ready to take on the world. Except, he is not ready to leave his fraternity behind. His alumni network won't cut it, and so he has decided to work for Nationals. He strongly believes he can change the culture of Greek fraternity life. Thou Note: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Now that Charles has graduated, it is time to face the real world. He is all fresh-faced and eager, all ready to take on the world. Except, he is not ready to leave his fraternity behind. His alumni network won't cut it, and so he has decided to work for Nationals. He strongly believes he can change the culture of Greek fraternity life. Though in order to do that, he decides that he has to hold himself to exceedingly superb standards in order to be an exemplary role model. This is where all the fun begins.

Even though he did come far from his freshman days, he has difficulty shedding his less than stellar past. He worked hard throughout his university days to build up the confident man that he has become. A lot of his growth, he owes to his fraternity. For him, it is only natural that he has taken on a position as an Educational Consultant. This means that he has to travel all over the country to visit various chapters under his fraternity. Throughout this journey he learns a lot more about himself and things he thought he knew but didn't. It's a year-long trip of self-discovery as much as it is of work. During this time he meets the most interesting characters and he comes to realize that age has nothing to do with how together one's life it. He also comes to question what his personal goals are, especially when his goals and Nationals' goals seem to be very contrary to one another. He genuinely wants to help his brothers but when it comes to money and corporate power, his personal convictions hardly matter.

While I never was part of the Greek system, never was in a sorority, or anything of that sort, I thought Holic painted a pretty clear picture. Both positive and negative aspects were brought out; sometimes humorously, sometimes seriously. No matter which angle various issues were addressed, they were done so in an engaging manner. Although, sometimes I did feel a little removed from the story, perhaps because as a female reader, some parts with overt male interests failed to hold my interest. At the same time, I could see why a guy might relate to some of these parts differently.

Either way, I enjoyed looking into Charles' mind. He was so sure of himself on the outside yet so utterly lost on the inside. He was so adamant that he should prove himself to the world. He tried to force himself to be someone he thought he needed to be, forgetting who he was. Without the safety net of school/ university, he had to worry for his livelihood because he was paid just enough for sustenance, while trying to keep the rest of his life together. His parents had different ideas about his future, and his girlfriend, Jen, tried to be supportive, so he also started to wonder at what cost he was pursuing his job as a traveling consultant. All these thought and considerations weaved a complex web that trapped Charles and made it difficult for him to climb out.

Another issue was the place of social media in his life, in light of his private and professional selves. I thought that this was a very fitting concern in this day and age. Once again, the way he dealt with Facebook and his clear dependence on it both socially and psychologically posed inherent questions about the ubiquity of social media and what that does to us who are constantly connected through and with it.

Despite the 400 over pages in print that this book entails, it didn't feel like some heavy tome best used as a brick. Sure, some heavy thoughts did arise out of reading American Fraternity Man but I appreciated these for self-reflection. As a graduating senior at university, a lot of the very pressing issues were raised, so I would definitely recommend this book for university students. At the same time, I think anyone can benefit from reading it for the laughs but also for the heavy inspection of fraternities that shows that no matter how well stereotypes hold up, things aren't always as shallow as they might seem to be to outsiders.

This review is also available at dudettereads.com. ...more

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May 18, 2014 Cecilia M. rated it it was amazing

An in-depth look at the world of Millenials inside and outside of fraternity life. Was fascinated by the story and was rooting for Charles Washington all the way through the book as he struggled to find himself. I'm glad he didn't go back to his college girlfriend. I know he will change the world of college student life when he grows up! A great book! Thanks to my publisher Matt Peters of Beating Windward Press for publishing this! ...more

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Aug 29, 2013 Lynn Steinberg rated it liked it

I feel bad giving this book 3 stars. I wanted to give it more, but it was so long and got pretty boring at times. In the end, I can see why people rave about it, but I was waiting for it to end so I have to stick with 3 stars. More of a book for people who were a part of a fraternity or sorority I suppose.

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Jun 28, 2013 Greg rated it liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 08, 2013 Bi Ho marked it as to-read

good

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Jun 22, 2013 Darcee Kraus rated it it was amazing

Shelves: first-reads

Not the perspective you would expect, Holic shows a side not often exposed. Looking through his world is inspiring to say the least...

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Jul 10, 2013 Lavinia Ludlow rated it really liked it

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, literary-fiction

Review here:

http://thecollagist.com/the-collagist...
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About Nathan Holic

Nathan Holic

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Nathan Holic lives and writes in Orlando, Florida, where he teaches writing courses at the University of Central Florida, and drives from 7-Eleven to 7-Eleven in search of the perfect fountain-poured Diet Coke.

He is the author of the novel American Fraternity Man (Beating Windward Press) and the novella The Things I Don't See (Main Street Rag), and he is the editor of the annual anthology 15 Views ...more