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…