Review by kattheloremistress - The Shock of the Fall

kattheloremistress 's review for:

The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer

5.0

Now, I wouldn't call myself an authority on books that cover the topic of Mental Illness, but this is by far the best I have read on the subject. It handled the issue so well, treating it partly with the sensitivity it deserves, while managing an honesty that was frankly eye-opening. I can't believe I took so long to read this book! The characters were really well-written. Each of them was complex and had their own issues to deal with and I liked watching them develop as the book went on. They felt real and flawed too, and for me the best thing was that the way that they spoke felt so real. Sometimes when I read books, and conversations between characters, I think to myself 'There's no way they would have phrased it like that!' or 'Who says that?!'. Here, I had none of those problems and all interaction felt completely life-like. It was interesting to read from Matt's POV as well. Filer completely got the balance right when making sure that while it was clear that Matt had something wrong with him, he was still intelligent, funny and level-headed in his own way. It was clear that Filer's own experiences as a registered Mental Health Nurse played a huge part in the writing of this book, but I particularly liked that he touched upon the subject of grief as well. A shocking death hits the readers pretty early on in the book, and with that comes guilt, anxiety and anger for all those closely involved. It was so interesting to read as it had such a huge impact on the rest of the story. The fact that Filer clearly knows his stuff when it comes to the system made it an even more insightful read, and I adored the way he included letters and diagrams throughout (as well as changing fonts) to depict Matt's journey while recounting the story. This was such a well thought out book and I look forward to hopefully reading more of Filer's work.

For a full review, see here: http://chasedbymyimagination.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/book-review-shock-of-fall-nathan-filer.html