The Shock of the Fall book review

Just finished this excellent book.  Nathan Filer won the Costa first novel award with this engrossing tale of a man struggling with guilt and schizophrenia.

Matt Holmes is a 19 year old in the mental health system who tries to cope with his cruel illness by writing his story on the computer at Hope Road Day Centre, interspersed with drawings, doodles, letters and sketches.  This gives the book the feel of journeying with the main character, especially the different fonts used to point to the ad hoc manner of his writing, mirroring and symbolising his struggle with mental illness.

Matt is sectioned following episodes where he 'hears' and 'sees' his dead sibling in everyday things such as salt or the sunshine through a window, and a wonderful suspense is built as we read, as to what really did happen to his brother Simon.

There is wonderful imagery in the title also, in that 'the shock of the fall' is both that which killed Simon and what made Matthew cry prior to his brothers death.  A beautiful poignancy is shown here in both the fragility of life and the mental condition.

Grief is also dealt with sensitively, in that we see the family adopting different coping mechanisms, some of which, for example his Mother Susan's, can impact on others.

As a main character, Matt is engaging yet complex, mixing both the worlds of guilt and grief, which the reader may know, and the world of mental illness, which the reader may not, with ease and a forthright manner that doesn't preach, even at the end.

Nathan Filer is a registered mental health nurse and this is a true example of 'write what you know.'  You can almost see the mental health branded products Matt sees and the psychiatric jargon on his medical notes.  The monotony of life in the system is highlighted in a way that only someone who has lived it can and it is these things that ground the reality into the surreal moments, for example when Matt hides in his hospital bed, panicked because losing the hallucinations mean losing his brother all over again.

A true work of genius and a worthy winner.                                                         10/10

#TheShockOfTheFall  #NathanFiler  #CostaFirstNovelAward