Description
by Johnson, Chantal V. | Fiction & related items
Published 07/04/2022 by Little, Brown Book Group (Dialogue Books) in the United Kingdom
Hardback | 320 pages
Can Vivian live ecstatically, after what has been done to her?To the outside observer, Vivian is a success story – a dedicated lawyer who advocates for mentally ill patients at a 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 living in a white society. She lives in a constant state of hypervigilant awareness that makes even a simple tube ride into a heart-pounding drama.
For years, Vivian has self-medicated with a mix of dating, dieting, dark humour and smoking weed with her best friend, 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.
Readers who loved Open Water, A Little Life or Luster will adore this razor-sharp book about the aftermath of trauma that somehow manages to brim with warmth, laughter, and hope.
What people are saying about Post-Traumatic:’
Deeply original, socially important, psychologically revelatory, propulsively and idiosyncratically readable. Post-Traumatic is a gem.’ Elif Batuman, author of The Idiot
‘Stunning and riotous, Post-Traumatic took me right under and then revived me, like only the best fiction can do. Johnson’s delicious, meticulous prose delivers such intimacy and hilarity on the page, I laughed and cried all the way through. This is a raw, brilliant, and unforgettable debut. I love everything about it!’ Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
