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A review by annreadsabook
Post-Traumatic by Chantal V. Johnson
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
POST-TRAUMATIC is a visceral and unflinching look at trauma and all of its dimensions, and overall quite the impressive debut novel from lawyer/writer Chantal V. Johnson. POST-TRAUMATIC intimately portrays one Afro-Latina lawyer’s struggle with both the trauma she sustained growing up and her family’s continued dysfunction.
Johnson’s novel seats the reader in the heart of a thoroughly non-linear struggle with not only the trauma of horrendous concrete events, but the ongoing trauma of being Black in the United States, where one’s life is constantly bombarded with a million small and large affronts and indignities. I found interesting Johnson’s question of what one owes one’s family, particularly applied to Black and brown people whose families are often wounded and divided by the State and other intervening forces. Can one live fully while still engaging with the people who were active participants in your trauma? Is cutting out of the family altogether the “right” solution? What is necessary for one to move beyond the pain—and is that even possible?
Sometimes the dialogue, particularly between Vivian and her best friend Jane, came across as unrealistically verbose and academic, and it felt as though the characters in those scenes were only vehicles for directly conveying the author’s own thoughts. I’m not sure it’s necessarily a problem in its own right, but from a stylistic perspective it could become a bit tiresome (although perhaps these moments were modeled on Socratic dialogue, which would make sense considering Johnson’s a lawyer!) I would also like to throw out a strong word of caution for anyone considering this book, as it deals very heavily with fatphobia, ED, sexual abuse, mental illness and forced institutionalization.
Overall, however, this is a strong debut and I will definitely be on the lookout for Johnson’s work in the future.
Johnson’s novel seats the reader in the heart of a thoroughly non-linear struggle with not only the trauma of horrendous concrete events, but the ongoing trauma of being Black in the United States, where one’s life is constantly bombarded with a million small and large affronts and indignities. I found interesting Johnson’s question of what one owes one’s family, particularly applied to Black and brown people whose families are often wounded and divided by the State and other intervening forces. Can one live fully while still engaging with the people who were active participants in your trauma? Is cutting out of the family altogether the “right” solution? What is necessary for one to move beyond the pain—and is that even possible?
Sometimes the dialogue, particularly between Vivian and her best friend Jane, came across as unrealistically verbose and academic, and it felt as though the characters in those scenes were only vehicles for directly conveying the author’s own thoughts. I’m not sure it’s necessarily a problem in its own right, but from a stylistic perspective it could become a bit tiresome (although perhaps these moments were modeled on Socratic dialogue, which would make sense considering Johnson’s a lawyer!) I would also like to throw out a strong word of caution for anyone considering this book, as it deals very heavily with fatphobia, ED, sexual abuse, mental illness and forced institutionalization.
Overall, however, this is a strong debut and I will definitely be on the lookout for Johnson’s work in the future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, and Forced institutionalization