I read this book a few months ago but it has been playing on my mind ever since due how unique it was compared to everything else that I have read within the last year.
The Shock of the Fall was Nathan Filer's debut novel and it won 2013 Costa Book Awards for Best First Novel, as well as the overall Book of the Year. He gained a degree in Mental Health Nursing whilst working as a psychiatric nurse and is currently working as a Creative Writing lecturer at Bath Spa University.
The interesting aspect of this dual narration by the same character is the change in his perspectives over the course of his illness. Matthew narrates his entire life from being very young to the point he is at now, while brushing over a specific event to keep the readers guessing as there is a correlation between this event and his illness. The narration feels highly realistic as Matthew will be telling a story, but get distracted in the middle of it and will run with his new train of thought. Though this can become confusing, this is something people do regularly and so it makes the book feel more real than others, which have been crafted perfectly so that no one ever loses track of what is happening in the story. The branches of Matt's thoughts are like a tree, where he runs with one idea and then another will grow from that and he run with that one for a while until another appears. Then, twenty one year old Matthew recounts his recovery and acceptance of things he had done in the past while he tries to overcome his fears of the past so he can move on.
Matthew doesn't show remorse or even any acknowledgement of how some of his actions and treatments of others are wrong, but he writes so honestly, that the reader is aware of this and the reactions of those around him will make you pity his friends and family. There's a section where he retells the same scene with his friend repeatedly with some differences because he cannot remember how it really occurred. Some variations show him as being reasonable and everything being resolved amicably, and others show him as being out of control and obnoxious. He can be so rude to his family one moment, and the perfect son the next. He describes their reactions beautifully so the reader is never confused as to how they should be feeling towards each character, yet Matthew never acknowledges his wrong doings.
The font of the book is used creatively as nineteen year old Matt is writing his thoughts down, in his decrepit and revolting flat, on a type writer and the font changes to show this and it looks like typewriter script. Twenty one year old Matt is typing on a computer at the hospital and again, the font, spacing and margins change to accommodate this.
The book begins with what would be assumed to be the main plot line, except there doesn't seem to be a main story apart from Matthew's life and decline into unhappiness. The plot is not linear and jumps around a lot as Matt's train of thought changes and a story arch you're interested in may not be concluded for a few chapters. This makes the book convoluted and difficult to follow at times, and it took a long time to resolve the original issue and to be given the pieces to link together what happened, why it was relevant, and why certain characters were introduced early on and then not heard from again for a long time.
Though occasionally confusing to read and keep up with, everything is explained by the end. There were sections which were a struggle to get through but overall, I managed to finish it relatively quickly with a whole new perspective on mental illness. Nathan Filer wrote Matt in such an honest way that it was a refreshing and fun read. I felt that some parts dragged at times, seemed irrelevant or were difficult to follow, and though this seemed appropriate to the book and the character, this made me give it a four out of five stars on Goodreads but it was a fantastic, eye opening read and was certainly unique.
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