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A review by andrew_j_r
The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer
3.0
I heard about this book when it was discussed on the radio, and as a result I walked into Waterstones with a vague idea of what it was about (no title, no author) and luckily the member of staff there knew which direction to point me in.
It is an interesting story. It is a tale told by a schizophrenic, and as such things that cannot be true are reported as fact, but the build up has taught you a lot about the central character, so these moments never jar and are never confusing.
You genuinely do empathise with the central character, and there is a nice sense of tension running through the book - because we know about events before the eponymous "fall" and indeed after, but there is a deliberate black hole surrounding the actual moment that is the main suspenseful element in the book.
I really did enjoy this, I think perhaps the hype had been over done, and my expectations were so high that it was perhaps impossible for the book to live up to them (hence three rather than four stars). This does not mean that the book did not move me - it did - and there is a side of me that would like to know how Matthew's life progressed beyond the logical end point of this novel.
It is an interesting story. It is a tale told by a schizophrenic, and as such things that cannot be true are reported as fact, but the build up has taught you a lot about the central character, so these moments never jar and are never confusing.
You genuinely do empathise with the central character, and there is a nice sense of tension running through the book - because we know about events before the eponymous "fall" and indeed after, but there is a deliberate black hole surrounding the actual moment that is the main suspenseful element in the book.
I really did enjoy this, I think perhaps the hype had been over done, and my expectations were so high that it was perhaps impossible for the book to live up to them (hence three rather than four stars). This does not mean that the book did not move me - it did - and there is a side of me that would like to know how Matthew's life progressed beyond the logical end point of this novel.