3.5
Post-traumatic
ByPublisher Description
In this “deeply original” (Elif Batuman) and “violently funny” (Myriam Gurba) story, a young lawyer finally confronts her dark past so she can live in a more peaceful future.
To the outside observer, Vivian is a success story—a dedicated lawyer who advocates for mentally ill patients at a New York City psychiatric hospital. Privately, Vivian contends with the memories and aftereffects of her bad childhood—compounded by the everyday stresses of being a Black Latinx woman in America. She lives in a constant state of hypervigilant awareness that makes even a simple subway ride into a heart-pounding drama.For years, Vivian has self-medicated with a mix of dating, dieting, dark humor and smoking weed with her BFF, Jane. But after a family reunion prompts Vivian to take a bold step, she finds herself alone in new and terrifying ways, without even Jane to confide in, and she starts to unravel. Will she find a way to repair what matters most to her?
A debut from a stunning talent, Post-traumatic is a new kind of survivor narrative, featuring a complex heroine who is blazingly, indelibly alive. With razor-sharp prose and mordant wit, Chantal V. Johnson performs an extraordinary feat, delivering a psychologically astute story about the aftermath of trauma that somehow manages to brim with warmth, laughter, and hope.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesPost-traumatic Reviews
3.5
“I feel like I kept waiting for it to get good or get to the meat of the story but instead we floated around to whatever scene ( days or weeks or even a month later ) the author wants to write with no context, just thrown in. A lot of flat characters with a name, at most we might get something the narrator doesn’t like about each person to ‘flesh them out’
I found the main character really unlikable and the conversations to be so so so much fluff, an opener to something good? But then we would move on. And the biggest crime? Boring. This book was a yawn fest.
This reminded me of reading books like milkfed by Mellissa Broder, similar themes, unlikeable main character, dating delusions, eating disorders and outbursts, but this was missing.. the fun? Or maybe it couldn’t decide if it wanted to be quirky disaster or serious so it languished in the middle where there is nothing? Overall very disappointed and I wish I had DNF’ed.”
“This book really depicts the mind of the character as an environment in itself. It’s dark and scarily relatable. Beautifully written, and brings up a lot of serious topics (racism, sexism, abuse, ED, etc.) that as a society should be taken more seriously (demonstrated by the impact it has on the main character). Only thing I would change; the side characters all kind of muddle together a bit. There’s a lot to keep track of.”
“This isn’t a light read, but it is a meaningful one. Post-Traumatic is best for readers who appreciate emotionally layered stories and thoughtful conversations around mental health and survival.”
“The complexities of post trauma. High functioning & traumatized - attempting to live a full life half empty. Vivian’s inner dialogue - geesh.”
“Devastating, deep dive in the psyche of a women who’s trauma has deeply formed many aspects of her self and her view of others. We experience these thoughts and feelings alongside her in a heart breaking and sometimes bleak feeling manner. Emotionally raw and wonderfully written.”
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