The Shock Of the Fall

I loved this and read it in about three sittings.  Nathan Filer manages brilliantly to capture the voice of a schizophrenic teenager, Matthew.  (Or at least, I imagine he does, not knowing any schizophrenic teenagers myself.)  I’m still wondering, though: did Matthew kill Simon, or was it a tragic accident for which Matthew feels unnecessary guilt?  If it was meant to be ambiguous, fine – I liked it.  If it was made clear somewhere, then I missed it.  Matthew has a wonderfully acerbic take on his illness and on life generally, with snappy lines sprinkled throughout: “there’s a use-by date when it comes to blaming your parents,” made me laugh.  Mrs W, however, was less keen and said she remained unmoved to the end.  Hey well…