Customer Reviews

Fall

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Colin McAdam's FALL starts off like many a prep school book and immediately brings to mind A SEPARATE PEACE because it explores a Finny-like good looking athletic kid (Julius) and his studious, borderline loser roommate (Noel). To give it a twist, McAdam adds the beautiful Fall (Fallon), Julius's girlfriend, and has young Noel develop an unhealthy fascination for BOTH roomie and roomie's girl. It's all going fine -- with a few bumps in the road -- until about halfway through. Then we're faced with the AMERICAN (OK, maybe AUSTRALIAN, as Noel hails from Down Under) PSYCHO part.

Let's start with the bumps in the road. I liked McAdam's work out of the gate because he seemed to have an excellent feel for the "edgy" dynamic between boys living in the close quarters of prep school dorms. The other author who caught this nicely was Richard Yates in A GOOD SCHOOL. The boys are desperate for female love, but kind of, sort of, don't-you-dare-name-it love each other, too, if they're good friends. McAdams is in his element exploring this sensitive territory, and he nails the way boys act and think when they're about their pranks and forbidden pleasures. The bumps, you ask? I didn't think the 1st-person Julius POV (it jumps between them) always worked. Sometimes you'd get a pile-up of staccato-lines like so:

"I'm barfing.
Are you ok says Fall.
Pwuh I say. Plah.
Are you ok.
I love you I say.
Plee."

But then there's also writing like this, from Noel's point of view:

"I watched Julius play soccer sometimes. My toes got cold. I remember the smell of the leaves. I remember black mud, black-limbed trees, darkening autumn days, and Julius a relentless force on the field, finding a way like water around stones. I remember thinking that the way to reach a goal was by finding fissures between people that no one else could see."

It's too bad that what begins as a modern twist on a familiar genre takes such a bizarre turn. Noel, it turns out, is creepy. He goes for the fissures, all right -- like a hammer to a stress fracture. The weirdness of his obsessions soon take over the book, muting the "fun" Julius and Fall scenes. Despite this, I loved a lot of the writing and even got caught up in the investigation once Fall disappeared, but overall I felt that McAdam missed an opportunity with this work. It could've stuck to more mundane subtleties rather than giving itself up to crime-drama psychology. And yes, if you insist on tight endings (gift-wrapped with a bow), you'll be disappointed. Endings are tough, though. In any event, distractions or no, I'm sticking with 4-stars and advising fans of the prep school genre to "buy in."

"Fall" is set at a prestigious boarding school in Canada, where two roommates slowly get to know each other. The two roommates are Julius - a guy who has everything together, is loved by everyone, and has the most beautiful girl on campus (Fallon, aka Fall); and Noel (aka Wink b/c of his lazy eye) - an introverted, quiet guy who doesn't really have any friends and seemingly doesn't care about that, but internally, has a huge crush on Fall, and what seems like a man-crush on Julius. Their relationship as roommates, and later friends, develops throughout the story until Julius's girlfriend Fall goes missing. One of the main things I didn't like about this book is that the point-of-view kept switching between Noel, Julius and William (Julius's ambassador father's driver), and it was confusing at times to figure out who was speaking until mid-way through the chapter. Also, during most of Julius's chapters, the writing was as if someone was actually talking which was completely hard to follow. The first chapter of this book (which I later found out was a Julius chapter) entirely captures what I did NOT like about the book as a whole. Also, after finishing the book, I still have NO idea what the purpose of the William chapters were - they could have been removed from the book and not have made an ounce of difference. Overall, the story itself was decent, but I did not like how it was written...it just wasn't very reader-friendly. I probably would have rated the book a 2.5 if I were allowed to give half stars.

Colin McAdam's "Fall" charts the territory of a thriller as it contemplates the relationship of three boarding school students in the throes of love, friendship, and even obsession. Initially, standard character types are presented. There is Julius, star athlete and popular student, Noel, an awkward loner and Julius's new roommate, and Fall, Julius's lovely girlfriend. But, far from being a conventional thriller--"Fall" aspires to and achieves so much more! Told from multiple viewpoints, McAdam has crafted an extraordinary character study that sets up certain expectations about the three principles and then shifts and subverts those ideas as the story progresses. It is surprising, confounding, touching, and deeply human.

No one is quite as they seem as they struggle for acceptance and try to fit into the adult world. From the interior monologue of Julius, we see the stream-of-consciousness evolution of a boy to a man. From Fall's story, we see a young woman wrestling with first love and the nature of her own beauty. And from Noel's narrative, surprising truths of a darker nature start to evolve. While what happens may sometimes seem shocking, it always feels true. So the haunting "Fall" is a simple story that's likely to linger with you, I know it has with me. Definitely recommended, McAdam has created one of the more astute psychological portraits of adolescence that I've come across in some time.

Fall is the story of two very different prep school roommates (intellectual vs popular jock), and the girl they both love. The primary plot point is the disappearance of the girl.

This novel brilliantly paints the two main characters, alternating drastically between two styles befitting of the each. Noel is cerebral and analytic; the prose from his point of view is insightful and beautiful. Julius is a social young man; the prose from his point of view illustrates a love of life and lack of depth. The two styles are perfect for the two characters. Noel turns out to be a pretty creepy guy, and author Colin McAdam succeeds in making your skin crawl.

But the book's plot is disappointing. The product reviews and book jacket make it clear that the boys' love, Fall (short for Fallon), disappears. This doesn't occur until three quarters of the way through the book. And it is clear what happened. While you do get a sense of shock, there is no suspense or mystery. The plot doesn't really move forward after that. So the story arc is pretty flat, jumps to a high point three quarters of the way through, and then goes back to baseline after a few pages.

Had the author only told the story in a straightforward manner he might possibly have had a twisted "Cider House Rules" or "Catcher in the Rye" on his hands. Instead, he took a chance by filling pages of one-word sentences and phrases such as "Mm, Ffff, Heh, Hya" which seemed gimmicky, were hard to read and were highly distracting. These utterances represented the interactions between Julian and Fall. The 90% of the story that was told in traditional form was excellent. The writing was direct and precise and the story was thoroughly engaging. The other 10% almost (not totally) destroyed all that the author had worked so hard to achieve. The sense of place was spot on, I could almost feel the isolation of a cold boarding school whilst reading. The characters were all unique and highly relatable. Mr. McAdam could have had an instant classic on his hands had he not tried so hard to be avant garde. I still bestow 4 solid stars, even with the failed gimmickry.

The book begins innocently enough. The three main characters - Julius, Noel and Fall - as well as their group of friends, attend a boarding school for the privileged. Fall and Julius are lovers, and Noel is Julius' roommate. Julius takes pity on Noel for his nervous tic, as well as his obvious lack of social skills, which keep him on the outside.

Noel begins to imagine himself in the inner circle, a part of Julius' friend group. He participates in sports he'd never have considered before, but since he wants to be one of the in crowd he goes along with it. Gradually, he becomes more and more violent as a way to fit in. The other young men play pranks on each other, but Noel's version starts going way over the top.

It becomes very obvious Noel is getting unhealthily attached to Julius and his girlfriend once he begins wearing Julius' clothes, and meeting Fall when Julius isn't around. He wraps himself up so much in Julius it becomes unclear which dialogue is really Julius and which is Noel imagining he's Julius.

The stream of consciousness style works well, considering one of the main characters is mentally ill and unable to form rational thoughts. It isn't always clear who's narrating, but it's not always necessary to know. The reader knows what's happened, who's at fault, and gradually the other characters learn the truth, as well.

A literary page-turner of a novel, I know some will not appreciate the stream of consciousness style. My advice? Just go with it. Don't bother stopping to figure out who's speaking. Enjoy the beauty of the language and decide for yourself what the meaning is of the more obscure passages. This is a chilling, and often poetic work. A wonderful read.

Fall is the story of some fairly typical kids a Canadian boarding school. The rich/popular kid, the quiet outcast, the pretty girl, etc. Certainly nothing groundbreaking.

That the major event of the story, the disappearance of the pretty girlfriend, is given away in the summary, though doesn't actually happen until 3/4 way through the book seems odd.

The writing style is annoying. Julius (rich/popular kid) speaks in a stream of consciousness that is both hard to read, AND has no valuable content. At best you learn to gloss over it, at worst it will annoy you throughout the book.

Despite this, I still found the book entertaining. I would have preferred to see an expanded post-disappearance section.

"Fall" by Colin McAdam is an odd book. People will either love it or hate it. I loved it.

McAdam's writing style, the staccato bursts of dialog and the strange onomatopoetic pages of "conversation" may seem like affectations to those who dislike the book. I loved it. These conversations, in the world at large and between lovers, sounded right and realistic to me.

The story is a prep-school story, the nerd, Noel, and the cool kid, Julius, roommates. They learn to get along, share space and stories. They have buddies, Ant and Chris. They get into trouble and worry about grades, girls, hangovers, parents, body parts and muscles.

The core of the story, however, is Fall (short for Fallon), a beautful, charming, sweet girl, in love with Julius. As the time approaches for Julius and Fall's "anniversary," they plan a magical night together.

Noel is placed in the role of messenger between them. Noel has issues. Fall disappears.

The book is ambiguous and beautiful, realistic and shocking. It is filled with big thoughts: "the person you loved was never there, she was the skin around what you wanted." There are gems like this on every page.

The title itself is multi-layered. And the police don't get in the way of the story of the boys and the girl. Read "Fall" for something new, diverting, and memorable.

Colin McAdam's "Fall" is a creepy story told from three perspectives, in three distinct voices. Essentially it's about two boarding school roommates (sons of wealth and diplomacy) and their interaction with Fall (the female lead who goes missing in this story (not a spoiler)).

The bulk of the story is told in the first person of Noel. He's the creepy roommate who has a history of bizarre behavior and it's readily apparent he's not quite right. He's hard to like and since his voice is the bulk of the story--and it's not all that great a story--this is an unpleasant book to read. Clearly Noel's done something bad and the mystery is whether or not the reader will find out what or how. Noel's voice is occasionally interrupted by the voice of Julius, his more athletic and seemingly normal roommate. The author seems to be experimenting in these sections as they are loaded with very short sentences that often make no sense at all. It's an annoying (but not creepy) voice made tolerable by its brevity. Despite the clipped nature of Julius's sections, the reader does get a sense of his relationship with Fall. The final voice is William--Julius's father's driver. It's the best voice--by far--in the novel, but the sections hardly seem to fit in this novel, nor do they push the story forward. In addition, this is the most infrequent voice in "Fall".

Overall, I found the author's approach interesting, but don't believe it worked as well as it could've if the Julius sections had been more revealing (and/or coherent). The late adolescent aspect seemed well rendered, but Noel was far too creepy and Julius far too non-sensical to keep my interest. Lots of potential, but a missed attempt here.

Colin McAdam's Fall is a very smart, gripping mystery involving the vanishing of a young, beautiful Canadian high school girl.

Why It's Worth the Time:
- McAdam's three main characters are unique and multi-dimensional. He provides detailed, individualized narration that develops each well.
- McAdam doesn't dwell on the typical "who-dunnit" elements of a typical mystery. This novel isn't truly about the disappearance of Fall; it is about relationships and individuality.
- The novel is very well written and is appropriately paced.
- The academic boarding school dynamic provides the perfect setting for the novel.

Unfortunately...
- I didn't think the sections entitled "William" were done well; I understand their purpose, I just felt the execution of the device was unsuccessful.
- Julius's inner monologues occasionally became a touch annoying.

All in all a very smart, interesting read.