The Shock of the Fall | Nathan Filer

"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."

Nathan Filer's award-winning debut novel, 'The Shock of the Fall' is a wonderfully penned, and deeply compelling novel in which we witness Matt Holmes, a 19-year-old schizophrenic spiral into mental illness after the death of his older brother, Simon. Filer's charming writing style (channeled through Matt's old typewriter) coupled with typographical tricks and doodles makes for a thrilling, and gripping novel. 

13 pages in, and Simon is dead. You only have to lay eyes on this rapid opening, and you already know the next 294 pages are going to be good. Matt goes on to reveal the circumstances of the death as the novel progresses, and his guilt is evident throughout. The way Filer has penned his voice is pure beauty to read: blunt, frank, puzzled but most importantly, determined. He transforms the setting of the book with ease; from the caravan park, to Matt's flat, to the mental ward, and back again. It is as if you have been engulfed by the page and are travelling with our protagonist. 

The novel manages to overcome a rather grim prognosis with the constant use of humour and caustic remarks. Our main character is the main source of these mordant comments; when joking about his medical notes he writes,"Matthew … suffers from command hallucinations, which he attributes to a dead sibling. Crazy shit, eh?"

Filer also successfully intersperses quirky characters in the story to break up some of the possible melancholy. My personal favourites would have to be "Claire-or-maybe-Anna" and Matt's ever-trying grandmother "Nanny-Noo". 

Filer's incredible penmanship, techniques, characters and expressive views all add up to make a beautiful piece of literature -  a thoroughly gripping, and engaging novel. Go and get a copy for yourself!

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes Review

An explosive addition to one of the most popular film franchises around, Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes manages to blend together brutal war and moral depth with high success. 

Matt Reeves does a fantastic job, and I must admit surpasses my prior expectations, in the whole making and concept of the film; how they quite managed to pull of such an extraordinary and impressive feat of special effects still baffles me, with apes wielding guns and riding horses left, right and centre.I do think that this film has been pitched near-perfectly, with just the right amounts of drama, suspense, emotion and horror all encapsulated in the piece. 

What really surprised me about this film, is that there was a constant plot, and the pace didn't drop for too long. I'm not going to spoil it too much for you, as I thoroughly recommend you watch it for yourself, so here is just a basic plot line. A very basic plot line. 

I started the film off with a huge bucket of popcorn to the ready, and an open mind on what I was about to witness. A thorough ten minutes of animal grunted sign-language was to follow with a pretty spectacular 'monkey meets deer meets bear' type deal. The film, as I said, never really at a stand-still, moved straight into the major plot twist - the apes stumbled across a group of humans.

The apes and the humans had many different interactions throughout the film, with our protagonists Caesar and Malcolm (Jason Clarke) forming a strong alliance, or 'trust' in each other over a dam project for the survivors city. Meanwhile Koba, Caesar's former pal, is off shooting humans and hatching an evil plan.

A touching father-son scene, amidst a pretty fatal, yet spectacular all the same war scene later I ended the film with a couple of unanswered questions, a 'what used to be' huge bucket of popcorn and a very urgent need to pee. 

Firstly, shoutout to possibly the most kickass gentle giant ever, Maurice the ginger orang-utan. 

I left the cinema, having thoroughly enjoyed such a brilliant blockbuster, with the ending still replaying itself in my mind. The apes all accept Caesar as the leader, and there is a rather touching end scene of him standing with his family, and possibly the cutest baby monkey special effect I have ever seen in my life. And possibly the only baby monkey special effect I have ever seen in my life. 

But Caesar's ending line, 'war has only just begun' was hauntingly eerie, and surely has to open this major blockbuster up to making another sequel. 

The military are still on the way to fight the apes, which is an absolute disaster, as now Caesar is back in control, the apes are good once more (well until they fight the humans in the next film I suppose...).

Too much animal grunting, and no real need for 3D glasses put aside, I really did enjoy this film and thoroughly recommend it as it is worth the watch. The special effects are brilliant, as is the casting, the tension felt is immense and the apes are all pretty hardcore. 

Apes, fire, guns, a guy with glasses, and touching moments throughout, why wouldn't you want to watch this movie?

I give this film 4 1/2 Moustaches.

Oh the pun.

Do you have any film recommendations from recent releases/coming soons?

Ready Player One Review

A while back I stumbled across a Youtube account called 'ItsWayPastMyBedtime' run by Carrie Hope Fletcher. It was blatant from the get go that she has a passion for books and reading stories, and she suggests some fantastic reads. 

I watched a video named 'Carrie's Book Haul' where she recommended a book called 'Ready Player One' by Ernest Cline amongst others like The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I decided, at the next given opportunity to purchase this book as it sounded like something that I needed to read immediately. 

The three progressions of the books front cover.

Short Synopsis

I'm not going to spoil too much of this book for you, as I think it definitely is one of my favourite reads of all time, pushing me to recommend it to you. 

The world, exactly 30 years from now, is falling to pieces and everyone is escaping the harsh truths of reality by congregating in a huge online gaming platform known as the OASIS where they can go to school, hang out with friends, or ever since the creator of the platform's demise, they can hunt around for clues to a hidden Easter egg. If they can be the first of millions to find this Easter egg (after progressing through three well hidden gates and completing some tough challenges) they will win the fortune of James Halliday, the creator of OASIS.

Wade Watts is a likeable protagonist. He has everything going for him, apart from his wrecked home life, being severely bullied as a child, and inability to get a girl without meeting her through a computer first. I suppose this novel was the best thing that could have ever happened to him. 

The novel is packed full with game, and sci-fi film references, 80's trivia and long, funny sounding names of distant OASIS planets. A certainly resilient and certainly nerdy Wade Watts is determined to uncover the Easter egg, much aided by his need to get away from his particularly uninviting reality. But when friendship, two Japanese players, a girl he has a crush on and an army of millions known as the 'Sixers' are out to kill him and everyone else close to the winnings, will he make it?

My Thoughts

If I'm honest, once I started reading this novel, I could only make it about three chapters through before calling it a failed attempt and putting it down. To say the start of the book was slow would be an under-exaggeration...try worse than a tortoise trying to read 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. It wasn't until a six-hour stuffy car journey down to the coast that I decided to give the novel another chance. And aren't I glad I did. 

Much to my annoyance, after about a third of the book, you can't put it down. You can't sleep without 'just reading one more chapter', and put all eating, drinking, work and toilet breaks to a side just so you can procrastinate your day away whilst fully indulged in a great read. I wouldn't go as far to say this is literary magic, but a completely gripping and thrilling novel all the same.

This read is an absolute must for 80's kids, dystopian lovers, sci-fi nerds, and anyone with the ability to understand and appreciate a good book when they see one. Just remember who to blame when you are physically frightened for all of the characters, and have severe arm cramps from holding the novel for too long. 

Aftermath

Ten months after the novel's publishing, Cline revealed that there was an elaborately hidden Easter egg in the book itself, and would lead fans through a similar style hunt to find it. The grand prize was a DeLorean (and for those of you like myself who don't have any clue what this is, it is a pretty cool car)

There have also been talks of a film adaptation of the book. 

Fingers Crossed.

Question Time

Have you ever given up on a slow-starting book and then revisited it, realising it is amazing?!