The main character of “The Lives of Nathan – The Gift,” written by Hilton Vinhola do Nascimento, is an ordinary man. He had a difficult childhood: the son of a single mother, he grew up without knowing his father and witnessed his mother fighting tirelessly to ensure support and a secure future for him. However, his story is not unique, as everyone around him has their own turbulent experiences.
Through this narrator-character, readers are invited to a journey of self-reflection about the power of choices, the incessant search to make your dreams come true, the need to forgive yourself for past mistakes and the importance of confronting traumas to achieve happiness. In this book, which was born from vivid dreams, the author reminds us that, regardless of the experiences that shape people, they always have the power to transform the present.
Hilton narrates Nathan’s life, from his birth to a crucial moment in which he faces extreme circumstances that enable a profound transformation in his life. Until then, Nathan simply survived reality, but later he became the agent of his own change. The story is divided into 20 short chapters that show the protagonist’s maturation, from childhood to adulthood.
The plot explores common issues we all face at different stages of life, such as the anxiety of moving away from family for the first time, the feeling of rejection, insecurity when making new friends at school, the frustrations of first love, the challenges of establishing a career, grief and uncertainty about the future. “The Lives of Nathan – The Present” is the first work in a series of four books, representing the author’s commitment to sharing interpersonal wisdom with the public through a simple and direct narrative.
The book “The Lives of Nathan – The Present” covers the trajectory of the protagonist Nathan since his birth. Could you tell us more about the experiences and challenges he faces along this journey?
“Nathan’s Lives – The Present” covers Nathan’s trajectory from his birth to his 35th birthday, when he has the opportunity to talk to his past and his future, changing his life completely. The central idea of the plot is to go through each stage of human life development through Nathan’s perspective.
In the first phase of his life, childhood, Nathan begins to develop great fears about living with other children, since he was an only child, without his father present, absent grandparents. His only contact was with his mother, and he, unconsciously, did not know how to deal with the presence of other children in his life, thus creating his first emotional triggers.
The second phase of Nathan’s life covered in the book is school. At this point, Nathan begins to realize that there is an inequality of popularity among his schoolmates. Despite being a good friend, Nathan doesn’t understand why some people were more recognized than him and, in his judgment, there was no reason for this. From this moment on, Nathan begins to create thoughts of self-defense to shield himself from the reality that he just wanted to be recognized like his colleagues.
The third phase of Nathan’s life covered in the book is early adulthood. At this stage, Nathan starts to make his own decisions with a very hopeful look. However, after meeting a woman who brought him a contagious passion and subsequent disappointment, in addition to the complexity of the profession he had decided to pursue, he began to realize that perhaps life was not as simple as he had always imagined since his childhood and that love life could bring immense pain.
The fourth phase of Nathan’s life covered in the book is adulthood. Nathan decides to leave his mother’s house and meets a patient who messed with his head because of her story. Believing that nothing in life could be a coincidence, he let his intuition take over his logical thinking and rented a house just because he believed that everything was part of a perfect destiny. At this point, Nathan, already skeptical about his love life, begins to punish himself for making hasty decisions and always suffering harsh consequences in his life without even understanding why. Still at this stage, Nathan needs to deal with the sudden death of his mother and the unexpected meeting with his father, who he always believed never existed.
The death of his mother and the meeting with his father brought great depression, a feeling of emptiness and personal contempt. After that, Nathan no longer has hope, he no longer believes in love, he considers himself a failure, a nobody. He feels like just accumulated pain for all the failures committed at every stage of his life until, at his worst moment, his boss fires him, causing such great suffering that he immediately faints. From this fainting that allows him to dialogue with his past and future, completely changing his vision of life.
The power of choices and the quest to achieve one’s dreams are important themes in the book. How do you explore these concepts in Nathan’s story?
After a lifetime of living from the perspective that everything is predetermined, Nathan, in his conversation with his past and his future, explores the most diverse questions that he had never allowed himself to ask. In the dialogue, perceptions about the impact of your choices are addressed in different ways at each stage of your life. Reflections on who Nathan really is, why things happened the way they did, how to forgive himself, among other topics, are explored through examples from his own existence. The past and future never change anything about Nathan’s story, they only explore Nathan’s critical view of his own existence.
The protagonist, Nathan, goes through an extreme circumstance that leads him to a life transformation. Can you share a little about this situation and how it affects his life?
The great truth is that Nathan doesn’t just go through an extreme circumstance. These are cumulative events that generated a very extreme depressive process, an uncontrolled anxiety crisis and an accumulation of errors, bringing personal punishment. In the determining conflict, Nathan finds himself lost, without anyone he can count on after his mother’s death, made even worse when he learned that his father always existed and it was his choice not to be present. The character is without hope for anything and, to make matters worse, his current boss fires him from his current job, which makes him, in addition to a lonely man, a man incapable of his own survival. It is at this moment that everything changes.
In addition to the transformation of the main character, the plot addresses common issues at different stages of life. Could you give us examples of some of these situations and how they are addressed in the book?
The central idea of the book is to address the most common themes of conflict in human existence. The book covers the following themes: lack of family structure; Financial crisis; death/illness; heartbreak; professional dissatisfaction; medicines; personal contempt; paternal absence; depression; and anxiety. The idea is that the reader can identify in some way with one of these themes so that, at the end of the book, they find the relief they need for their personal pain.
How is the freedom to transform the present a central theme in the work? How does the author highlight the importance of this concept throughout the narrative?
Throughout the narrative of Nathan’s story, it is subliminal that freedom of choice and direct action in life is related to the present state. Nathan makes choices all the time, makes decisions, creates feelings, triggers, but at no point did he understand that they were just wrong choices and that everything was always in his control. Only after talking to his past and his future, Nathan has a clear vision that he has always had the power of transformation, the freedom of choice and that there is only the present.
“The Lives of Nathan – The Present” is the first book in a series of four. What can readers expect from the next works in the series? Will they continue to explore Nathan’s life?
Yes, the next books will be the continuity of Nathan’s life in earthly and spiritual life. The first book is approached in a more personal way, about the power of reflection and how choices directly affect our entire existence. The second “The Lives of Nathan – The Awakening” will begin from the exact moment in which the first book ended. The central idea of the second book is to awaken deeper personal and interpersonal concepts in a broader way. The third and fourth books are more connected with the idea of how our decisions are linked to our spiritual form. The idea is to fully expand all concepts and transcend the reader to their awakening.
You have a diverse background, including business consulting, investing, music, and writing. How did these experiences contribute to the creation of this book?
Although the book is a combination of the accumulation of several dreams I have had in my life, I believe that all of us, without exception, have experiences in all areas of our lives that bring us learning and forge our being maturity in the present state we live in. . In this truth, I believe that all the themes in my life helped me in a direct or indirect way to write the plot of this book.
Who is the book’s target audience? Is it intended for readers seeking inspiration, self-reflection, or a combination of both?
I believe that anyone who seeks to know a little about themselves in search of inspiration, self-reflection, forgiveness, personal evolution is a potential audience.
How is your experience in bringing interpersonal knowledge to the public reflected in the narrative of “The Lives of Nathan – The Present”?
Since I was a child, I have always had the habit of being a very observant person. Raised in a family with very well-defined beliefs, with my personal readings and the experience gained through my lucid dreams, I believe that my interpersonal knowledge was shaped to seek self-knowledge, ethics, empathy, charity and respect for others. In the narrative of “The Lives of Nathan – The Present”, despite being a story that addresses many themes, I believe that in the plot I was able to convey values such as self-knowledge, empathy for work friends, father’s regret, love for mother, among other perspectives , in a very simple way. In this way, I believe it transmits some of the thoughts and interpersonal knowledge.
In addition to your literary debut with this book, do you plan future literary projects? Is there anything you can share about your writing aspirations?
Initially, my future literary projects are based on completing Nathan Vanscolato’s complete cycle, which will be covered in 4 books. Regarding my aspirations in writing, I feel that these books are my purpose in trying to alleviate pain in some way in people’s lives. Until a certain point in my life, I never understood why I dreamed every night and why my dreams were so real, now I realize that this was part of my essence in wanting to help others in some way. Certainly the reach of this book to the maximum number of people and the completion of this cycle are my current purpose in life.
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