'The Shock of the Fall' by Nathan Filer
19 May 2014'The Shock of the Fall' by Nathan Filer, which I have just finished reading as an unabridged audio book, narrated by Oliver Hembrough, won the Costa first novel award last year. Matt, a young schizophrenic is conducting his own writing therapy by typing the tale of his life. Gradually, through a non-linear series of episodes and digressions, his story becomes clear to the reader and we learn how the death of his brother defined Matt's life. It's a sad tale, beautifully written. Matt's voice is totally believable and his narrative is often very funny. 'The Shock of the Fall' reminded me of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time' by Mark Haddon, 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' by Lionel Shriver (reviewed here in August 2006), 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest' by Ken Kesey and ‘Stuart: A Life Backwards’ by Alexander Masters (reviewed here in August 2010). It's not always a comfortable read, but it is a cleverly constructed book and is, ultimately rather uplifting.
Labels: Books
posted by Robin Simpson @ 3:30 pm
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