The Shock of the Fall is a tragic tale but it's really beautiful too. It deserves the Costa Book Award it won in 2014 because it provides the readers with a deep understanding of a troubled mind. I didn't pick this myself, I seen Soph reading it just after Christmas, it was the artwork on the cover that caught my eye, she let me read it after her and I'm so glad she was kind enough to let me read it! 

Without skirting around the edges this book is about mental illness, it's always a delicate subject with people I find; I think Nathan Filer had such courage to write about it as a topic because within the media the issue is often presented in a negative outlook or a stigma. Honestly this written with a raw honesty and such realism- this captured me.

This book overwhelmed me at certain points I found, obviously I was aware that there are people going through experiences this every second of everyday for some their lifetime but I guess I just never really thought about it. In this book you listen to the story, really the journey through the characters first hand experience as he battles with it everyday. 

Basically the story is about a man's fall into mental illness after the shock of a tragedy he  experienced with his older brother Simon as a child. It explores his battle, the strain on his disintegrating relationship with his family, at the end of the book I felt so proud of the storyteller who's the man. 

I adored this story! Nathan Filer did a fantastic job with this début novel, this was such an eye opening read. A very powerful novel highlighting schizophrenia and mental illness in general, definitely worthy of all the 5 star reviews!

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Picture found on tumblr, photo credits to: http://thefictionologist.tumblr.com/

Special shoutout to Soph for being kind enough to read this wonderful book...peaches xo