The Shock of the Fall

This book was recommended by several guests on the Robin Ince and Josie Long Bookshambles podcast so I thought I'd give it a go. Wow. What a powerful novel.

Filer, in his first novel, has managed to capture the trials and trauma, the small victories, the dark shadows, the utter bloody normality of mental illness.

Told as though written by a young man called Matthew Homes, we follow him as he struggles to cope with his condition. His story unfolds slowly, and though by the second page we know what has happened, we don't know the why and how until later, much later in the book. It is brilliantly written. The conceit of reproducing the pages as though they were written on computer, or typewriter, or handwritten notes work very well, always at the service of the story, never as a gimmick.

It is a moving story of how grief and guilt can shatter lives and how recovery can be an ongoing battle that sometimes is never quite won. Well, maybe the battles, but never the war.

I would urge anyone who has experienced, or knows someone who has struggled with mental health issues, or wants to know more about the effects of treatment and the internal struggles that go on in the mind of a patient, to read this book.

It is not a heavy read, in fact it is a real page turner. You want to know what happens next. The revelation when it comes is shockingly simple, yet devastating.

It deserves all the praise heaped upon it. Brilliant book.