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3.5 

Post-traumatic

By Chantal V. Johnson
Post-traumatic by Chantal V. Johnson digital book - Fable

Publisher 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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586 Reviews

3.5
““The best writing was like a good friend, in the way that it gave you permission to be yourself.” -Chantal V. Johnson This book is not for the faint of heart. There are mentions of sexual assault(rape), child abuse, family dysfunction, eating disorders, fat shame, homosexuality, mental illness, PTSD, familial estrangement, substance abuse, our failing ‘justice’ system. It’s a great book for talking about these sensitive topics in a bold and honest way. I felt like I was reading a book about myself in my early 20s. It was so raw and provided such an honest character to the reader. If you’ve had a painful history with any of these topics, I would wait to read this novel until you’re emotionally detached(healed) from them. Also, I love the cover. I’m not usually a fan of humans on book covers, but this one works for me. I think it would make a great discussion book. I’ll gladly read more by this author in the future.”
“It wasn’t really my cup of tea. There was a lot of social issues being brought up and yes all of them were important, but I don’t feel like they got their moment or enough space to really dive into it and make a huge impact so it sort of went nowhere for me. I wish there was more to it. I felt her job wasn’t a big deal to the story, there were a few scenes of it and then nothing. You could’ve taken her job parts out and nothing would change in the story. There were so many different plots and ideas for this book but nothing was thought about long term. It tried to fit so many different things in without giving them their time to shine and work through (her job, fight with friend, various dates, the wedding, the family reunion), things happened and that was it, never discussed again. The writing was nothing amazing either, some parts I didn’t like the style, it was just an okay book. I know other people get a lot out of it due to the social issues but again, I wish there was more to it. I think I would’ve enjoyed it more if things were discussed more in depth.”
Anxious Face with sweat“The description of this book reeled me in and I was even more drawn by the controversial cover that I know the author had to fight to get approved but I couldn’t sit through another page of this book. I barely made it 50 pages and I was anxious by the amount of consistent weed smoking, hatred of any snack over 30 calories, and man hating disguised as feminism. I love an unlikable character but Vivian and Jane made me want to never attempt to make female friends again in the fear they may secretly be like either of them. I think I may have PTSD just from reading the little I did of it.”

About Chantal V. Johnson

Chantal V. Johnson is a tenant lawyer and writer. A graduate of Stanford Law School and a 2018 Center for Fiction Emerging Writers Fellow, she lives in New York.

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