Catatonia by Steve Crane

When Bella notices Nicolas on the street in a catatonic state, letting the rain fall down and people blunder past him without awareness, she films him before intervening, believing him to need her help. Also, watching Nicolas is Father Flynn, a Catholic priest and teacher, and unbeknown to Bella prior to their serendipitous meeting, a good friend and confidant of her mother. In trying to help someone who they believe needs assistance, they both, but mainly Bella, find themselves thrown into a situation of uncertainty and questioning; this, for Bella, will have an enormous impact on her and her family.

Bella’s kindness to Nicolas leads her to escort him home and she finds that he lives a life of regimented chaos – his home is unkempt but he has nice furniture, showing that he is not short of money – and when he shares with her his ideology or his manifesto, this acts as a catalyst, exposing Nicolas’ nihilistic views to her wider circle with dire consequences.

This is a difficult book to discuss: for the most part I understood what Crane was trying to do and there is no doubt that he can write but it was not always easy. There were parts of it that had strength, like the way that the book starts, and the character of Eleanor and its message but there were many more parts where I was emotionally detached from the characters and the action of the story, and these moments made it hard for me to become fully immersed.

That being said, in many ways, it is a thought-provoking novel: Nicolas has, for Bella, a vulnerability and she becomes curious about him when he shares his world view. He is offering an alternative view to the purpose of life in a time where Catholicism and the church are waning. There is a lot of discussion about the power that Christianity holds over people, its motives for doing this, and the hope of an afterlife. Angela, Bella’s mother, in particular demonstrates its hold; by putting her faith in her faith first, she is at risk of isolating herself from her loved ones.

When Nicolas is supported in his ideas by Richard, Bella’s brother, Crane shows how dangerous acolytes can be when presented with a negative ideology with no boundaries, and chaos descends.

Interesting idea which earns three stars but at times, difficult to read.

This review was first published on Reedsy Discovery where I was privileged to read it as an ARC.