Book Reviews

The Shock Of The Fall (2013)

The Shock Of The Fall - Nathan Filer (2013)

Rating: 3/5

Genre: Young Adult Fiction

"I'll tell you what happened because it will be a good way to introduce my brother. His name's Simon. I think you're going to like him. I really do. But in a couple of pages he'll be dead. And he was never the same after that."

The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer is a story about a 19 year old man, Matthew Homes. Matthew Homes is a mentally ill boy who is dealing with the guilt that he has over his brother's death.

"I have an illness, a disease with the shape and sound of a snake. Whenever I learn something new it learns it too... My illness knows everything I know."

The Shock Of The Fall gives a very realistic look into what mental illness looks and feels like. Nathan Filer has captured the thoughts and feelings of a young man with a serious mental illness and displayed them very realistically.

"We are selfish my illness and I. We think only of ourselves. We shape the world around us into messages, into secret whispers spoken only for us."

I have very mixed feelings about this book and I don't particularly want to pick it up again. This book is a bit unsettling, at one stage Matthew refers to his life as "watching my helium balloon slowly die". It is by no means my favourite book but it is very interesting and insightful.

Although I didn't find this book deeply moving or very insightful it definitely made me think about how hard life can be for people less fortunate than myself.

I think this book is something that you would read if you part of a book club. The Shock Of The Fall is definitely something to talk about.