Book Review: The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer

Hello book-lovers!

This is my first proper book review, so please bear with me.

As you can see by the title, the book I'm reviewing is 'The Shock of the Fall' by Nathan Filer.

Here is the blurb, so you have some idea about the book:



‘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.’

Firstly, the reason I decided to read this was because the blurb really intrigued me. What happened to Simon. Who is his brother?
The main character is called Matthew and he has schizophrenia. Did he seem real to me? Kind of. If the story wasn't written as confusingly as this one was to me, then the main character would certainly have seemed real to me, but I felt as though I didn't know where I was and what was going on. I enjoyed reading about his life, and what effects his mental illness had on him. As most of this story is Matthew telling the reader about his life, and how his dead brother Simon is still very much a part of his life (due to his schizophrenia), I did begin to guess how the story would end. I was wrong, and the ending didn't end how I imagined it to end, it was a bit of an anti-climatic ending.

It was a well written book, and the Nathan Filer clearly knows what he's talking about. Reading about all of the different characters within the book was interesting because they all had unique personalities; there are a few laughs in the book as well.
I don't want to spoil the book for anyone that wants to read it, but I will say that if you enjoyed reading 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time', then you will like this. It's obviously a different story, but both of the main characters in each book have a mental illness.

Overall, I give it a 3.5 out of 5. It was really a very interesting story and gave me an insight into the life of someone with schizophrenia. If you enjoy a book that suddenly changes to different points in time with little or no warning and you can understand it, then this book will not be a problem for you. Other than that, 'The Shock of the Fall' will make you laugh and may even bring a tear to you eye, so if you like the sound of it, give it a try!

If you enjoyed this review then great! If you think I should have added other things, then let me know in the comments below; it was my first review after all!

Amy :)