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neilcake 's review for:
The Shock of the Fall
by Nathan Filer
This was, for me, the definition of a quick read. It took merely four modest sessions to navigate its lightly worded 300-odd pages. And what do you know? The last 10 pages or so are acknowledgements and an author Q&A... skippy, skippy, skippy...
Firstly, this book worked best for me in its depiction of parental love. I felt it really got quite close to the truth at times, and it even made me feel one or two emotions - perhaps because I'm a parent now.
What I found worked less well was... everything else. The story wasn't particularly interesting, nor did the first-person depiction of mental illness ring exactly true. Matt just didn't seem that confused or to be struggling that much. I found it interesting that the author biography inside the cover mentioned that Nathan Filer is/was a mental health nurse, or some such - I assumed in order to lend validity to a tale of struggle with mental illness. But then I thought, 'how does that lend credibility?' It doesn't really. And it becomes ironic when Filer's character demonstrates feelings that the mental health professionals who care for him fail to understand him. I hope I don't have to point out why that is ironic...
And don't get me started on that lame plot device where something of the story is held back in order to cash in with a big reveal later on. It's actually a lot like The Silver Linings Playbook if you think about it - just less triumphant and uplifting (though I personally didn't find that book uplifting, I feel that was what it was going for).
While I'm on it, I also found the conversational tone irritating. Matt would say things like, "The sky looked like black silk. Or maybe velvet... it looked nice is what I'm getting at." Seriously, writing that way doesn't convince me that your character is a real person, let alone one suffering guilt, grief and mental illness. And I don't find it quirky or amusing.
Anyway, look; it wasn't that bad. It really isn't the kind of book I tend to choose to read, but just to keep up with literary trends I sometimes read something my wife has read. So it's not bad, but it's far too vague and shallow to really float my boat. As I say though; there were some nice touches in there relating to Matt and his family.
Firstly, this book worked best for me in its depiction of parental love. I felt it really got quite close to the truth at times, and it even made me feel one or two emotions - perhaps because I'm a parent now.
What I found worked less well was... everything else. The story wasn't particularly interesting, nor did the first-person depiction of mental illness ring exactly true. Matt just didn't seem that confused or to be struggling that much. I found it interesting that the author biography inside the cover mentioned that Nathan Filer is/was a mental health nurse, or some such - I assumed in order to lend validity to a tale of struggle with mental illness. But then I thought, 'how does that lend credibility?' It doesn't really. And it becomes ironic when Filer's character demonstrates feelings that the mental health professionals who care for him fail to understand him. I hope I don't have to point out why that is ironic...
And don't get me started on that lame plot device where something of the story is held back in order to cash in with a big reveal later on. It's actually a lot like The Silver Linings Playbook if you think about it - just less triumphant and uplifting (though I personally didn't find that book uplifting, I feel that was what it was going for).
While I'm on it, I also found the conversational tone irritating. Matt would say things like, "The sky looked like black silk. Or maybe velvet... it looked nice is what I'm getting at." Seriously, writing that way doesn't convince me that your character is a real person, let alone one suffering guilt, grief and mental illness. And I don't find it quirky or amusing.
Anyway, look; it wasn't that bad. It really isn't the kind of book I tend to choose to read, but just to keep up with literary trends I sometimes read something my wife has read. So it's not bad, but it's far too vague and shallow to really float my boat. As I say though; there were some nice touches in there relating to Matt and his family.