Reviews

Notes Made while Falling by Jenn Ashworth

moonpix's review

5.0

This was the first book I began after being discharged from the hospital. Its uncompromising investigation of pain and how this sudden suffering can change your relationship to literature (and to the world) was exactly what I needed right now.

mimster's review against another edition

4.0

Interesting way to do memoir - lots to puzzle over 

lou_christie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma

emilyacres's review against another edition

4.0

Not at all what I expected but absolutely fascinating.

brnineworms's review

dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Notes Made While Falling is absolutely phenomenal. It is masterfully crafted and clearly built to be a book – it just wouldn’t work in any other medium. The unreliable narration means the anecdotes recounted in this memoir(?) may not be “true” in the strictest sense, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t honest. Ashworth’s writing is captivating, evocative, and, at times, horrifyingly gruesome.

It’s not for the faint of heart but if you can handle gore, trauma, and psychosis then I highly recommend it.

A couple of quotes:

“I want to demonstrate to her something I still can’t help but hope is true of art generally and might one day be true for me in particular: the things we sickly humans make can be more complex and intelligent, more humane and more precious, than the wounded people who make them. / Alone in my bed, I feel ashamed.”

“I am not figuring out a way to ‘tell it slant’ because the thing itself is slant and untellable and only my body knows my evil hour.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, and Vomit

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Chronic illness, Grief, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and War

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Bullying, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Dementia, Drug use, Eating disorder, Excrement, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Terminal illness, Torture, and Xenophobia

also indoctrination, and religion being used to peddle sexism and other bigotries

louisethepoet's review

5.0

Wow. Absolutely fabulous. A mix of memoir, medical/ illness academia and storytelling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Medical trauma, and Medical content

Moderate: Vomit and Chronic illness

jerowney's review

2.0

An interesting memoir slash offloading slash creative writing handbook. As a writer and former healthcare professional I found the book intriguing, but the unreliable qualities of the narrator threw me and made it difficult for me to know what to question and what to believe. On some levels that's fine. It's an attempt to create something inventive and fresh, but I found it frustrating at times.